Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Netanyahu Corruption Accusations Are An ‘Internal Israeli Matter,’ U.S. Says

The Israel Police’s recommendation to indict Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is an “internal Israeli matter,” the U.S. State Department said.

“The United States has a very strong relationship not only with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but also the Israeli Government. We’re certainly aware of it, but we consider it to be an internal Israeli matter,” State Department Spokeswoman Heather Nauert told a press briefing on Tuesday.

The news conference came hours after the police recommended to Israeli prosecutors that Netanyahu be indicted on bribery and breach of trust charges in two alleged corruption cases.

Netanyahu professed his innocence and asserted that he would continue to lead the ruling government coalition.

On Wednesday, an attorney for the prime minister said the total amount of gifts Netanyahu received amounted to less than half of the $285,000 million alleged by police and that they were gifts, not bribes.

Netanyahu is at the center of two probes. In one, known as Case 1000, he allegedly received expensive gifts from supporters in return for advancing their interests, including expensive cigars and champagne from the Israeli-born Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan. In the other, Case 2000, Netanyahu is alleged to have conspired with Arnon Mozes, the owner of the Israeli daily Yediot Acharonot, to advance legislation hobbling the free and pro-Netanyahu tabloid Israel Hayom bankrolled by American billionaire Sheldon Adelson.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.

If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.

Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism. 

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.