Israel police probing ex-Netanyahu aide over alleged smear campaign
Israeli police have launched a probe into circumstances under which former aides to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu raised thousands of dollars to prevent his predecessor and critic Ehud Barak from returning to the political scene.
Israel’s Channel 10 reported the police probe on Monday, saying the aides had raised as much as 140,000 shekels (36,000 dollars) for the mudslinging campaign.
At least one aide, whose name was not mentioned in reports, has been questioned by police.
Separately, police raided the offices of a PR firm that works for Netanyahu and is suspected of having failed to legally report its anti-Barak ads, Israeli paper Haaretz reported.
Barak was the prime minister of Israel between 1999 and 2001 and has also served as a former minister for military affairs. He has turned into a vocal critic of Netanyahu’s policies and has been meeting with his opponents recently.
Back in May, Barak had harsh words for the Israeli prime minister’s move to replace former military affairs chief Moshe Ya’alon with hawkish Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. He called the move a “purge” and said it “should be a red light for all of us regarding what’s going on in the administration.”
“This administration needs to be brought down before it brings all of us down,” Barak said, adding that the foreign officials he spoke to were no longer supportive of Israel.
Barak has also held meetings with Ya’alon, who, likewise, plans a political comeback.
Netanyahu is himself the subject of a police investigation into foreign funds he received after resuming office in 2009. He has dismissed any wrongdoing.
He is also implicated in a separate fraud case involving French tycoon Arnaud Mimran, who is said to have previously paid out unrelated donations to the Israeli PM.
A French court has convicted Mimran of fraud and sentenced him to eight years in prison and one million euros (upwards of one million dollars) in fines in a 2008-2009 fraud case.
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