TEL AVIV: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused his leftist opponents and the country’s media of trying to oust his government by pressuring investigators to indict him “at any cost.”
Netanyahu, 67, has been questioned under caution by police in two cases. “Case 1000” deals with gifts given to him and his family by businessmen, while a second, “Case 2000,” is related to conversations he held with an Israeli publisher.
Police have also questioned his wife, Sara, over her alleged misuse of official funds. Israeli media said this week that the attorney-general was poised to issue an indictment against her.
“The media and the left, which serves it... contrive endless scandals, endless reports and endless headlines so that maybe, maybe something will stick,” he told a rally of his right-wing Likud party in a speech broadcast live on the three main Israeli television channels.
“They demand from the law-enforcement authorities: ‘give us something, doesn’t matter what’,” Netanyahu told supporters, who waved Israeli flags and chanted his nickname “Bibi, Bibi.”
“The left’s and the media’s ... aim is to put pressure, which is wrong, on the law enforcement authorities to bring an indictment at any cost, without any connection to the truth, without any connection to justice.”
Netanyahu, who last won an election in 2015, has weathered several scandals and police inquiries during his 11 years in office. His approval ratings are generally solid, putting him ahead of potential challengers.
The Israeli leader has described the din of criminal investigations around him as “background noise” and has dismissed speculation he will be forced to resign by saying simply on Facebook this week: “Won’t happen.”
He quipped in his speech that there were rumors that even his family dog, Kaia, would be called in for questioning.
Case 1,000 involves Netanyahu and family members receiving gifts on a regular basis from two businessmen. Israeli media have reported that the gifts included cigars and champagne.
Case 2,000 involves a deal Netanyahu allegedly discussed with the owner of one of Israel’s largest newspapers, Yedioth Ahronoth, for better coverage in return for curbs on competition from a free paper owned by US casino mogul Sheldon Adelson. The latter paper has long supported the prime minister.
Netanyahu has denied any wrongdoing.
In his speech on Wednesday, Netanyahu also accused Palestinian officials of seeking his demise but said he would not yield to their demands for Israeli concessions in peace talks that have been frozen since 2014.
“My friends, they too will be disappointed, because it won’t happen,” he said.
Netanyahu accuses Israeli left, media of trying to oust him
Netanyahu accuses Israeli left, media of trying to oust him
Refugees, migrants in Lebanon find rare sanctuary from Israeli strikes in Beirut church
- Beirut church offers safe haven for displaced migrants, refugees
- Many refugees lived through 2024 war, but are now more vulnerable
BEIRUT: When Israeli strikes began pummelling Beirut’s southern suburbs early on Monday, Sudanese refugee Ridina Muhammad and her family had no choice but to flee home on foot, eventually reaching the only shelter that would accept them: a church.
Eight months pregnant, Muhammad, 32, walked with her husband and three children for hours in the dark streets until they found a car to take them to the St. Joseph Tabaris Parish, which has opened its doors to refugees and migrants.
They are among 300,000 people displaced across Lebanon this week by heavy Israeli strikes, launched in response to a rocket and drone attackinto Israel by the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.
Just 100,000 of the displaced are in government shelters. Others are staying with relatives or sleeping in the streets. But migrants and refugees say government shelters were never an option for them, saying they were turned away during the last war between Hezbollah and Israel.
Muhammad’s oldest daughter, now seven, stopped speaking after the 2024 war.
This time, they are even more vulnerable: their home was destroyed in this week’s strikes and Muhammad is due to give birth at the end of the month.
“I don’t know if there’s a doctor or not, but I’m really scared about it because I haven’t prepared any clothes for the baby, nor arranged a hospital, and I don’t know where to go,” she told Reuters as her younger daughter leaned against her pregnant belly.
Muhammad said she was registered with the United Nations’ refugee agency (UNHCR) but had not received support.
“Us, as refugees, why did we register with the UN, if they are not helping us in the most difficult times?” she said.
Dalal Harb, a spokesperson for UNHCR Lebanon, said the agency had mobilized but reaching everyone immediately was extremely challenging given the scale and speed of displacement. The UNHCR operation in Lebanon is currently only around 14 percent funded, she said.
The Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS), which helped the church host displaced in 2024, is doing so again.
Michael Petro, JRS’ Emergency Shelter Director, said the church was full within the first day of strikes, with 140 people from South Sudan, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, and other countries sheltering there.
“There are many, many more people coming than there were in 2024, and we have fewer and fewer places to put them,” he said.
Petro said he was told weeks ago that government shelters would be open to migrants if war erupted.
But when the strikes began and even Lebanese struggled to find shelter, the policy seemed to change, he said.
“We’re hearing from hotlines up to government officials and ministries that migrants are not welcome,” Petro said.
Lebanon’s Minister for Social Affairs Haneen Sayyed did not respond to a request for comment. On Thursday, Sayyed said Beirut shelters were full.
When Israeli strikes began, Othman Yahyeh Dawood, a 41-year-old Sudanese man, put his two young sons on his motorcycle.
They drove 75 kilometers (46 miles) from the southern Lebanese town of Nabatieh to St. Joseph’s, where they had sheltered in 2024.
“I know the area is safe and there are people who will welcome us,” he said.
“We don’t know where to go; there’s war there (in the south), war here (in Beirut), war in Sudan, and nowhere else to go,” he said.
