Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday expressed hope that bilateral relations with Israel would stay on track, as Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit announced his intention to charge Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with bribery, fraud and breach of trust in three probes, pending a hearing.

Putin told journalists in Moscow that Netanyahu was personally overseeing the “consistent progress” in diplomatic relations between the two countries.

“We hope that despite internal political events, the pre-election situation, no matter how it unfolds, continuity will be preserved in the development of Russian-Israeli relations,” Putin said, according to a statement from the Russian embassy in Israel.

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“As for the development of our bilateral relations, there has been quite consistent progress. We must acknowledge the Israeli leadership’s efforts: Prime Minister Netanyahu is working on this personally,” he said.

Putin’s remarks came a day after he met Netanyahu in Moscow to discuss military cooperation in Syria, where Israel is waging an airstrike campaign against Iranian military targets.

Relations between Israel and Russia have strained since September, when Syria’s air defense systems shot down a Russian plane by mistake during an Israeli airstrike on an Iranian military installation.

The resultant deaths of 15 Russian troops caused serious tensions between Israel and Russia. Netanyahu and Putin have spoken several times since the incident, and had a brief encounter in Paris in November.

Prior to his Moscow visit, Netanyahu said he and Putin would focus on Iranian entrenchment in Syria, and discuss how to coordinate and avoid military clashes on Syrian territory.

Netanyahu rushed back to Israel after Wednesday’s meetings to prepare for Mandelblit’s indictment announcement.

Meanwhile, Mandelblit has said he intended to charge the premier pending a hearing, where Netanyahu would be given a chance to defend himself before charges are filed.

The announcement comes ahead of April 9 elections in which Netanyahu is facing a tough challenge from a centrist political alliance headed by a respected former IDF chief of staff, Benny Gantz.

Speaking in a televised statement a couple of hours after the attorney general’s announcement, Netanyahu called the corruption allegations a “witch hunt” meant to topple him.

Netanyahu, who rejects all the charges against him, opened his remarks by thanking Putin and US President Donald Trump for backing his strong leadership style.

“This special connection with the leaders of the world powers isn’t something to be taken for granted,” he said. “I’ve built it up for years, and it helps me ensure our security and future and defend our country.”</s>"It was decided to create a group with the participation of Russia, Israel and several other countries, which will work on the issue of the withdrawal of foreign forces from Syria", the official said after the talks. He declined, however, to specify the details of the initiative, including the countries that could be involved in the process in addition to Israel and Russia.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met earlier on Wednesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow to discuss security in the Middle East with a focus on Iran.

READ MORE: Israel Claims Iran Tried to Hack Its Missile Warning System

Netanyahu said Wednesday that high-level contacts between Russia and Israel contribute to security and stability in the Middle East.

"I believe that the direct link between us, our direct contact is important, as is guarantees lack of problems and clashes and ensures stability and security in our region", Netanyahu said.

However, a high-ranking source in the Israeli government said earlier on Wednesday that Moscow and Tel Aviv have overcome the crisis in bilateral relations that was caused by the incident with a Russian Il-20 reconnaissance aircraft.

READ MORE: Netanyahu: Israel to Keep Countering Iran After Tehran Unveiled New Missile

The source also stressed that Israel will continue to operate in Syria against the 'Iranian aggression', while maintaining communication channels to avoid further conflicts with Russia. Israel views Iran as a permanent threat to its national security and tries to undermine positions of the alleged pro-Iranian forces in neighboring Lebanon and Syria.</s>Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Russian President Vladimir Putin that Israel will continue to take action against Iran in Syria, in the first significant meeting between the two since a major spat developed over a downed spy plane last year.

“The greatest threat to stability and security in the region comes from Iran and its proxies,” Netanyahu said. “We are determined to continue our aggressive activity against Iran, which calls for our destruction, and against its attempts to establish itself militarily in Syria.”

Israel and Russia have been at odds since September, when Syrian air defenses shot down a Russian reconnaissance plane while aiming at an Israeli jet that was targeting an alleged Iranian installation. The incident, which Moscow blamed Israel for, threatened to hamper Israel’s air campaign against Iranian entrenchment in Syria.

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Netanyhau had credited his close ties with Putin for the success of a system allowing Israel to carry out strikes in Syria without becoming entangled with Russia, which is allied with Syria’s President Bashar Assad, but those ties reportedly took a hit in the wake of the spy plane incident.

On Wednesday, Netanyahu again credited the system in place between Israel and Russia.

“I have counted 11 meetings between us since September 2016,” Netanyahu told Putin at the start of the meeting. “The direct link between us is the deconfliction mechanism that prevented conflict between our armies and contributed to security and stability in the region.”

Putin welcomed his Israeli guest, but did not specifically mention Iran or Syria in his remarks. “It is very important that we continue to cooperate. Russia was a supporter of the establishment of Israel. We are happy to talk about the situation in the region and the security issue,” Putin said.

After the spy plane incident, Russia dispatched advanced S-300 air defense batteries to Syria, raising concerns they could be used against Israeli planes. They have yet to be deployed, according to intelligence assessments.

Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes over the last several years to keep Iran from gaining a foothold in Syria and thwart the transfer of advanced weapons to Tehran-backed Hezbollah. Moscow has said it will keep Iran from the Israeli border, but has said it cannot push Iranian forces out of the country.

At the beginning of the their brief statements, Netanyahu invited Putin to come to Jerusalem to attend the unveiling of a monument in honor of Soviet soldiers who died during the siege of Leningrad in World War II.

“We will never forget the role Russia and the Red Army played in the victory over the Nazis,” Netanyahu said.

Putin immediately accepted the invitation, noting that the memory of the soldiers who died at Leningrad was “sacred.”

The Leningrad memorial is set to be erected in the capital’s Armon Hanatziv promenade, overlooking Jerusalem’s Old City. There is no date for the event yet.

Netanyahu also said his government had recently decided to fund a new museum dedicated to the half million Jewish World War II veterans who fought in the Red Army.

"Thank you, I will come", #Putin responded to #Netanyahu's invitation to participate in the opening of a monument to survivors, victims of the Siege of Leningrad in #Jerusalem. He added, Memory of people who died in #WWII and Leningrad Siege is sacred. https://t.co/qOX7KMZHQl pic.twitter.com/k5PcZMNH9b — Russia???????? in Israel (@israel_mid_ru) February 27, 2019

Earlier this year, the world marked the 75th anniversary of the end of the Leningrad siege, which lasted from September 1941 to January 1944. Hundreds of thousands of Russians died during the blockade by Nazi Germany, most of them from starvation.

Wednesday’s meeting in the Kremlin was also attended by Environmental Protection Minister Ze’ev Elkin, a former Soviet refusenik who translated Netanyahu’s remarks from Hebrew to Russian, National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat and head of Military Intelligence Tamir Hayman.

Netanyahu was set to fly back to Israel shortly after the meeting, cutting his trip short and canceling a planned event with Moscow’s Jewish community, reportedly to prepare for an expected indictment announcement against him in the coming days.

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit is expected late this week or early next week to publish conclusions on three corruption cases against Netanyahu. Police have recommended bribery charges in all three, but the prime minister denies any wrongdoing.

Before taking off after midnight Wednesday, Netanyahu said he hoped deepen the “important, close and even intimate dialogue with the president of Russia, which is so important for the security of Israel.”

Netanyahu has spoken with Putin by phone and met with him on the sidelines of World War II commemorations in Paris in November, but the two have not held a formal sit-down since last July.

Their meeting was also their first since US President Donald Trump announced in December he would withdraw all American soldiers from Syria, in a move that was welcomed by Putin but raised concerns in Israel.

Agencies contributed to this report.</s>TEL AVIV - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's alliance with a racist party has angered the largest Jewish groups in the United States, leading to a highly unusual strong public rebuke of Israel's government and fears of serious damage to a strategically important relationship.

The American Jewish Committee (AJC) and the pro-Israeli lobby AIPAC are among the largest, oldest and most powerful Jewish organisations in the US with huge influence in the US Congress. They have consistently provided Israel with important strategic support, be it for Oslo peace accords, the search for a two-state solution, continued settlement construction, after attacks on the Gaza Strip and Syria, or railing against the US president and his nuclear deal with Iran.

This could change now.

Mr Netanyahu seems to have taxed Israel's most faithful friends beyond their breaking point when he co-sponsored a pact between the settler party Jewish Home and the openly racist Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Strength) party.

In a statement, the AJC was the first to criticise Israel. AIPAC later endorsed the critical statement, with other Jewish organisations and congressmen following suit.

Many Israelis fear that Mr Netanyahu's election campaign could jeopardise the vital relations with Jews in the US. Are Israel and its most important diaspora community breaking apart?

Hardly anyone suspects Mr Netanyahu of identifying with the extremist ideology of Otzma Yehudith. It was founded by followers of Rabbi Meir Kahane, who emigrated from Brooklyn to Israel, founded the Kach party there and entered the Knesset for a brief stint.

Members of Otzma Yehudith have called for the expulsion of non-Jews from Israel, to ban sexual contacts or marriages between Jews and Arabs and to annex the West Bank.

Mr Kahane preached violence against Arabs, but was himself assassinated in 1990 by an Islamist in Brooklyn. His Kach party was banned in 1988. One of his followers committed a terrorist act in a mosque in Hebron in 1994, slaying 29 Palestinians during prayer time. The act derailed the peace process for a long time.

Following the attack, Kach was also designated as a terrorist organisation in the US. The founders of Otzma Yehudith openly admit their admiration for Mr Kahane and the terrorist of Hebron. The party is considered an offshoot of Kach.

So why did Mr Netanyahu make extremists, one of whom boasts of being indicted for racism in 53 cases, not only socially acceptable, but perhaps even part of the next Israeli government?

The answer: political distress. For the first time in 10 years, Netanyahu's hold on power is threatened on two fronts.

The Attorney-General may indict him for corruption in several cases before the election on April 9. In addition, a coalition of opposition parties have begun to beat Mr Netanyahu's Likud in polls. The new party is led by ex-general Benny Gantz, the first rival who most voters think can run the country as well as the incumbent.

Mr Netanyahu, therefore, needs every vote in the parliamentary election. But his right-wing camp is divided into many small splinter parties, several of which could fail to overcome the 3.25 per cent threshold needed to secure a seat in parliament.

For this reason, Mr Netanyahu pressured the settler party, itself a merger of two radical parties, into an alliance with Otzma Yehudith. To make the idea of a union more attractive, he has, among other things, offered the settlers two ministerial posts.

So Mr Netanyahu, if he wins the election, looks set to appoint a Minister of Education, who calls himself a "proud homophobe", demands a halt to Jews selling houses to Arabs and calls for separate maternity wards for Jews and Arabs. Mr Netanyahu's sponsorship of the new alliance also paves the way for Kahanists to enter the Knesset for the first time in decades.

This has rattled even the most Zionist Israelis. Rabbi Benny Lau compared casting a vote for the new electoral alliance "to support of the Nuremberg racial laws" of the Nazis, and stated that the entry of "racist doctrines" into the Knesset would be the beginning of the unravelling of the country.

And Israel's American supporters, who voice their criticism only behind doors, felt "compelled to speak out", according to the AJC. It said the views of Otzma Yehudith were "reprehensible" and "in no way reflected the core values that are the very foundation of the State of Israel."

In direct criticism and contrasting the prime minister's endorsement of the merger with Otzma Yehudith, the AJC noted that "historically, the views of extremist parties have been firmly rejected by mainstream parties".

Democratic Congressman Jerry Nadler's criticism was even more pointed: "The promotion and inclusion of an avowedly racist party is a betrayal of Israeli democracy and of Israel's friends and supporters around the world." He added that the legitimisation of racist views was "simply unacceptable".

Mr Johanan Plesner, director of the Israeli Institute for Democracy, noted that this was the first time that AIPAC has openly voiced its concerns over the state of Israel's democracy. Mr Netanyahu's sponsorship of the alliance will make it much harder to get US Jews, most of whom hold liberal views, to support Israel or to garner support for the Jewish state in Congress.

Mr Avigdor Liberman, a former defence minister, long-time companion of Mr Netanyahu and himself an uncompromising hardliner, said: "If AIPAC reacts that way, it should be a red flag for us."

Mr Netanyahu's tactics escalate pre-existing tensions with the mostly liberal, organised US Judaism. His coalition, which relies on an alliance with ultra-Orthodox Jews, has repeatedly marginalised liberal Jews.

Last year, the prime minister cancelled a deal at the last minute that would have permitted liberal communities to pray at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. His partners also want to withdraw recognition from all but the most conservative US rabbis and invalidate their decisions in Israel. The agreement with the Kahanists now further fuels fury and a feeling of estrangement among US Jews.

For the time being, AIPAC still intends to welcome Mr Netanyahu to its annual US conference in March. But despite the respectful invitation, it is hard not to note that his policies and no holds barred election campaign are deepening the gap between Israel and its most loyal and important supporters in the US.</s>Lapid reiterates Blue and White won’t sit with Netanyahu in gov’t, even before hearing

Blue and White No. 2 Yair Lapid echoes Benny Gantz’s statement calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resign and vowing not to join his government after the April elections.

“This is a sad day for the State of Israel,” Lapid says in a statement. “From the bottom of my heart, I hope he’s cleared of all charges.

And yet, Netanyahu cannot continue to serve as prime minister. He knows that better than anyone. The Prime Minister is a symbol and we must not allow that symbol to be tarnished.”

No citizen of Israel would want their children being taught by someone who has been indicted, or being treated by a doctor who has been indicted, or serving under a commander who has been indicted,” he adds. “If Netanyahu loves the State of Israel as he always says he does, then he needs to do what’s best for the country: He needs to resign, immediately. He can pass the baton to someone else in the Likud; there are plenty of good people there.

“It goes without saying that we will not sit in any government in which the prime minister has been indicted for such serious crimes. That’s true now, even before the hearing. If Netanyahu is cleared of the charges, and again I hope for him and his family that he is, he can always come back.”</s>Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Russian President Vladimir Putin that Israel will continue to take action against Iran in Syria, in the first significant meeting between the two since a major spat developed over a downed spy plane last year.

“The greatest threat to stability and security in the region comes from Iran and its proxies,” Netanyahu said. “We are determined to continue our aggressive activity against Iran, which calls for our destruction, and against its attempts to establish itself militarily in Syria.”

Israel and Russia have been at odds since September, when Syrian air defenses shot down a Russian reconnaissance plane while aiming at an Israeli jet that was targeting an alleged Iranian installation. The incident, which Moscow blamed Israel for, threatened to hamper Israel’s air campaign against Iranian entrenchment in Syria.

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Netanyhau had credited his close ties with Putin for the success of a system allowing Israel to carry out strikes in Syria without becoming entangled with Russia, which is allied with Syria’s President Bashar Assad, but those ties reportedly took a hit in the wake of the spy plane incident.

On Wednesday, Netanyahu again credited the system in place between Israel and Russia.

“I have counted 11 meetings between us since September 2016,” Netanyahu told Putin at the start of the meeting. “The direct link between us is the deconfliction mechanism that prevented conflict between our armies and contributed to security and stability in the region.”

Putin welcomed his Israeli guest, but did not specifically mention Iran or Syria in his remarks. “It is very important that we continue to cooperate. Russia was a supporter of the establishment of Israel. We are happy to talk about the situation in the region and the security issue,” Putin said.

After the spy plane incident, Russia dispatched advanced S-300 air defense batteries to Syria, raising concerns they could be used against Israeli planes. They have yet to be deployed, according to intelligence assessments.

Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes over the last several years to keep Iran from gaining a foothold in Syria and thwart the transfer of advanced weapons to Tehran-backed Hezbollah. Moscow has said it will keep Iran from the Israeli border, but has said it cannot push Iranian forces out of the country.

At the beginning of the their brief statements, Netanyahu invited Putin to come to Jerusalem to attend the unveiling of a monument in honor of Soviet soldiers who died during the siege of Leningrad in World War II.

“We will never forget the role Russia and the Red Army played in the victory over the Nazis,” Netanyahu said.

Putin immediately accepted the invitation, noting that the memory of the soldiers who died at Leningrad was “sacred.”

The Leningrad memorial is set to be erected in the capital’s Armon Hanatziv promenade, overlooking Jerusalem’s Old City. There is no date for the event yet.

Netanyahu also said his government had recently decided to fund a new museum dedicated to the half million Jewish World War II veterans who fought in the Red Army.

Earlier this year, the world marked the 75th anniversary of the end of the Leningrad siege, which lasted from September 1941 to January 1944. Hundreds of thousands of Russians died during the blockade by Nazi Germany, most of them from starvation.

Wednesday’s meeting in the Kremlin was also attended by Environmental Protection Minister Ze’ev Elkin, a former Soviet refusenik who translated Netanyahu’s remarks from Hebrew to Russian, National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat and head of Military Intelligence Tamir Hayman.

Netanyahu was set to fly back to Israel shortly after the meeting, cutting his trip short and canceling a planned event with Moscow’s Jewish community, reportedly to prepare for an expected indictment announcement against him in the coming days.

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit is expected late this week or early next week to publish conclusions on three corruption cases against Netanyahu. Police have recommended bribery charges in all three, but the prime minister denies any wrongdoing.

Before taking off after midnight Wednesday, Netanyahu said he hoped deepen the “important, close and even intimate dialogue with the president of Russia, which is so important for the security of Israel.”

Netanyahu has spoken with Putin by phone and met with him on the sidelines of World War II commemorations in Paris in November, but the two have not held a formal sit-down since last July.

Their meeting was also their first since US President Donald Trump announced in December he would withdraw all American soldiers from Syria, in a move that was welcomed by Putin but raised concerns in Israel.</s>The indictment marks the first time in Israeli history that a sitting prime minister has been charged with a crime.

ed note–before all the usual suspects, and particularly within the ‘Pro-Palestine’ community, erupt with orgasmic enthusiasm over this development, recall that it is but another manifestation of ‘by way of deception, we shall make war…’

Firstly, the obvious–Netanyahu is a war criminal with the blood of not just tens of thousands, but indeed MILLIONS of innocent people on his hands. Besides Gaza, there is–

1. 3,000 Americans who lost their lives as a result of the Israeli-engineered terrorist attacks on 9/11 with which Netanyahu was intimately involved at both the planning and operation levels and which he characterized as ‘good’ in that they would generate ‘immediate sympathy for Israel’,

2. The genocide in Iraq that killed over a million and displaced even more,

3. The genocide in Libya that killed hundreds of thousands in the NATO bombing campaign,

4. The genocide in Syria, which killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions more,

5. Yemen and its carnage which is ongoing.

And yet, he is being charged with ‘white collar’ crimes of ‘corruption, bribery, fraud and breach of trust.’

This is about Israel doing a little TLC-based maintenance to her public image in affecting the mirage of a Jewish state that is governed by the same Western laws proscribing dishonesty, corruption, and theft, all of which are considered virtues within the Judaic paradigm. Like a VD-infected prostitute run down on drugs, covered with Meth sores all over her body, teeth rotting out and who smells like an outhouse walking on 2 legs who checks herself into some rehab center to get ‘cleaned up’ only to emerge a few weeks later and return to the streets in a much more marketable manner, likewise, the whore of Babylon calling itself the Jewish state is doing the same.

Israel’s attorney general announced Thursday that his office had indicted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on corruption charges after a two-year investigation.

The prime minister faces one count of bribery and two counts of fraud and breach of trust.

Police have previously recommended indicting Netanyahu for bribery, fraud and breach of trust in three different cases.

The most serious allegations against Netanyahu involve his relationship with Shaul Elovitch, the controlling shareholder of Israel’s telecom giant Bezeq. Police recommended an indictment in the case based on evidence collected that confidants of Netanyahu promoted regulatory changes worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Bezeq. In exchange, they believe Netanyahu used his connections with Elovitch to receive positive press coverage on Bezeq’s popular subsidiary news site, Walla. Police have said their investigation concluded that Netanyahu and Elovitch engaged in a “bribe-based relationship.”

Police also recommended charges be brought against Elovitch, members of his family and members of his Bezeq management team.

Police have previously recommended indicting Netanyahu on corruption charges in two other cases. One involves accepting gifts from billionaire friends, and the second revolves around alleged offers of advantageous legislation for a major newspaper in return for favorable coverage.

Netanyahu, 69, who is serving his third consecutive term as prime minister and his fourth overall, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and called the various allegations against him a witch hunt aimed at removing him from office.

The attorney general’s decision to publish his conclusions 39 days prior to the general election on April 9 is raising questions about what impact it can have on the outcome of the vote.

Israeli media reported Thursday that with just hours to go before Mandelblit’s anticipated decision to indict Netanyahu, his Likud Party filed a petition to the Supreme Court to stop the announcement from happening before the election on the grounds that it would unfairly impact on Netanyahu’s prospects of re-election. However, the court’s spokesperson confirmed later in the afternoon that the petition was rejected.

The indictment marks the first time in Israeli history that a sitting prime minister has been charged with a crime.

Legal experts in Israel say it could take up to a year for a hearing process into the charges to end and an additional two years for a court case to be heard.

While Israeli prime ministers are not required by law to resign if charged, the prospect of a prime minister standing trial while simultaneously running the country would be unchartered territory.

In response to the indictment, Jerusalem-based Israel Democracy Institute said Netanyahu should consider carefully whether it’s best for him to stay on as prime minister or resign and focus on proving his case in the courts.

“We cannot ignore the serious potential damage to the public’s trust in the state’s institutions caused by a situation in which the government is headed by an individual charged with criminal misconduct involving abuse of power,” the organization’s statement said.

The institute says the timing of the announcement doesn’t constitute “an inappropriate influence on the elections” because it was made “within a reasonable amount of time before the elections, taking into account both the public’s right to know and the desire not to intervene in the electoral process.”

Israeli law professor Said Avi Bell said the indictment inserts law enforcement officials into the political arena “in an unprecedented way, and on a very shaky legal foundation.”

President Donald Trump, with whom Netanyahu has forged a close connection, said “[Netanyahu’s] done a great job as prime minister” in response to a question in Hanoi, where he was holding a summit with the leader of North Korea.

“He’s tough, he’s smart, he’s strong,” Trump said of the Israeli leader, but didn’t comment on the indictment.

Netanyahu rushed back Wednesday from a diplomatic mission to Moscow, and a meeting with President Vladimir Putin, to prepare for his expected rebuttal to the charges on Thursday.

While no stranger to scandal, this was the first time Netanyahu faced the possibility of being formally charged with a crime.

Netanyahu and his family’s luxurious lifestyle — often at taxpayers’ expense — has come under scrutiny before. Nearly six years ago, Netanyahu was criticized for reportedly spending $127,000 in public funds for a special sleeping cabin for a five-and-a-half hour flight to London for Margaret Thatcher’s funeral. That came just months after the Netanyahu family’s taxpayer-funded food budget included $2,700 for artisanal pistachio and French vanilla ice cream.</s>TEL AVIV – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu landed in Moscow early on Thursday for a brief trip during which he is expected to discuss Syria and Iran with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

A planned event with Moscow’s Jewish community was cancelled and the Israeli premier will now return home on the same day after meeting with his Russian counterpart.

Israeli media reported that the trip was cut short over the indictment announcement that Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit is expected to make in the coming days. Netanyahu is said to want to be in Israel to deal with any potential fallout when Mandelblit publishes his conclusions on the three corruption cases faced by the prime minister.

Netanyahu said his talks with Putin were “very important” for Israel’s security and would focus on Iran’s attempts to entrench itself militarily in Syria.

“We are taking action against [Iran], we are attacking its bases and we will continue acting against it,” he said.

“We will continue acting until we get the Iranians out of Syria, because Iran is threatening to eradicate Israel and we will not let it have a military base near our border,” he added.

Netanyahu stated that he hoped to strengthen the “important, close and even intimate dialogue with the president of Russia, which is so important for the security of Israel.”

Putin, however, is reportedly seeking to spend at least some of the meeting discussing the conflict with the Palestinians.

The meeting marks the first time the two leaders have sat down for a formal meeting since Russia blamed Israel for the downing of its plane by Syrian air defenses and is also the first face-to-face since the Trump administration announced it was withdrawing U.S. troops from Syria.

Netanyahu has met with Putin more than any other world leader.</s>Anshel Pfeffer, author of a recent Netanyahu biography, said on Twitter that Israel was entering "uncharted waters" in which "no one has any idea how being a prime minister under notice of indictment will effect Netanyahu and his government".</s>“Corruption charges are ridiculous,” Netanyahu’s personal spokesman Ofer Golan said. “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received nothing from Elovitch and gave him nothing. Walla's coverage was negative and got worse before the elections. All decisions regarding Bezeq were approved by all responsible regulators and the PM acted flawlessly, as the Ministry of Justice stated in an official document. Claiming two and a half online articles constitutes bribery is an absurdity without precedent in legal history. This House of Cards will soon collapse.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells Russian President Vladimir Putin that Israel will "continue to take action against Iran in Syria".