Netanyahu Ally Asks for Charges to Be Dropped After Alleged Police Cover-Up

In a formal request to the state to drop criminal charges against Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, MK Miki Zohar (Likud) on Tuesday formally asked the state to drop one of the three corruption charges the prime minister faces, after a news report alleged that an investigator had a conflict of interest.

“This morning I contacted the attorney general with a request to immediately close Case 2000 and cancel the ludicrous indictment that was filed against the prime minister,” Zohar said. “Our claim that Case 2000 is totally baseless was confirmed last night with the revelation of a corrupt conflict of interest in the investigation.”

Other senior Likud officials have also called for an investigation into the charges.

Netanyahu reacted to the news report claiming it was “shocking” and an “atom bomb” that proved the corruption cases against him were a conspiracy.

Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn said he was satisfied with the state prosecution’s denial of the allegations that it had covered up any connection between the investigators and relatives of any suspects. “The [law enforcement] system must constantly check itself, investigate, fix, and respond substantively to all criticism. And so it will,” he wrote on social media. “The legal system will continue to work independently and without fear, because this way, and only this way, will democracy be upheld here.”