The corruption charges faced by Benjamin Netanyahu were expected to throw unwelcome light on his metaphorical dirty laundry, but nobody expected them to do so literally.
Court records and official sources in Washington have revealed accusations against the Israeli Prime Minister of smuggling large quantities of washing to the American capital for years, apparently to have it cleaned at no cost.
Blair House, the Washington house where world leaders are hosted, provides a laundry and dry cleaning service. Most guests use it to have clean shirts for summits and negotiations.
Mr Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, however, apparently take it further. “The Netanyahus are the only ones who bring actual suitcases of dirty laundry for us to clean,” an official said, according to The Washington Post. “After multiple trips, it became clear this was intentional.”
The claim was revealed in one of the several corruption cases against Mr Netanyahu in Israel that are due to resume court hearings in January. Nir Hefetz, a former aide, was heard in a recording saying: “On every trip at least four or five suitcases come filled with laundry for dry cleaning . . . journalists have asked me about it and I’ve checked the bills. Nothing appears in the bills — they somehow hid it.” In 2016 Mr Netanyahu won a court order banning the release of his laundry bills.
Read the article by Richard Spencer in The Australian.