Former (and future?) prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is locked in the fight of his life
The Netanyahu trial, which is being conducted in a parallel legal universe, theoretically detached from the chaos of Israeli politics, has morphed over the past few weeks into a grotesque comedy starring an American-Israeli producer, an Australian billionaire, Cuban cigars, French champagne, and Romanian luxury jewelry.
Over the years, rumors swirled about Bibi’s relationships with a number of billionaires and the extravagant gifts he received from them.
But only with Case 1000 — after three decades of gossip amplified by his political rivals, whose numbers increased exponentially the longer Bibi remained in power — were the rumors subjected to legal scrutiny. Of the three indictments against Netanyahu, Case 1000 is by far the most lurid.
Netanyahu and his wife are accused of receiving gifts of cigars, champagne, and luxury jewelry from Israeli-American film producer Arnon Milchan and Australian businessman James Packer, to a cumulative value of almost NIS 700,000. Last week Hadas Klein, Arnon Milchan’s personal assistant, took the witness stand before the panel of three judges to testify about the stream of gifts whose delivery she oversaw, in what became the hottest show in town.
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