Jerusalem: Israeli prosecutors say they are opening a criminal investigation into the failed start-up of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s challenger, shaking up what has already been a tumultuous election campaign.
In a statement released on Thursday night, Israel’s Justice Ministry said Israeli police will conduct the investigation into “Fifth Dimension.” The statement did not say whether opposition leader Benny Gantz is a suspect.
Gantz’s Blue and White Party is in a tight race with Netanyahu’s Likud. The March 2 vote comes just two weeks before Netanyahu’s corruption trial is to begin.
Throughout the campaign, Gantz has tried to focus all attention on Netanyahu’s legal troubles and presented himself as an honest and scandal-free alternative.
“It all sounds like political pressure to get this thing on the public’s agenda,” Gantz told Israel’s Army Radio.
“I am totally at ease. This was checked in the past and no criminal suspicion was found.”
Israel goes to the polls for the third vote in less than a year after two elections in 2019 ended inconclusively, with neither Netanyahu or Gantz able to forge a coalition government.
It’s not clear if the reports over the affair will move the needle in any way. The months leading up to the campaign have been marked by other bombshells, including the unveiling of President Donald Trump’s Mideast plan and the setting of a date for the beginning of Netanyahu’s corruption trial, which have not dramatically affected opinion polls.
Read the article in The Sydney Morning Herald (AP).