JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli police questioned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara on Friday for the first time in a corruption case that involves the country’s largest telecommunications company, Israel Radio said.

Israeli police confirmed that an anti-corruption unit had questioned the couple for several hours each, but did not say whether the questioning was in connection with the case of Bezeq Israel Telecom.

The case is one of at least four investigations surrounding the four-term prime minister or his associates announced last month, which have put his political survival in jeopardy. In February police recommended that Netanyahu, 68, be indicted for bribery in two other corruption investigations. (For a graphic on investigations of Netanyahu, click tmsnrt.rs/2iE4zAN)

Netanyahu has denied any wrongdoing and says he is the victim of a “witch-hunt.”

In the Bezeq case, known as Case 4000, authorities allege that the owners of the telecoms firm provided favorable coverage of Netanyahu and his wife on a news website they controlled in return for favors from regulators.

The company has denied wrongdoing. Police have yet to make a recommendation about charges in the case.

In a video message posted on his Facebook page about three hours after police left his residence, the prime minister said he was confidant nothing would come of the investigations.

Netanyahu is scheduled to fly to the United States on Saturday and to meet President Donald Trump on March 5.

Sara Netanyahu’s lawyer said her questioning took place at a police station near Tel Aviv, while the prime minister was questioned at his official residence in Jerusalem. The lawyer said Sara was questioned under police caution, indicating that she could become a suspect.

Police investigating the case have arrested the controlling shareholder of Bezeq Telecom, Shaul Elovitch, and Nir Hefetz, a former Netanyahu spokesman, who have both denied wrongdoing. Israeli media reported that they were both also being questioned on Friday.

A representative for Elovitch had no immediate comment and Hefetz’s lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.

Shlomo Filber, a confidant of Netanyahu and former director general of the Communications Ministry, has also been arrested in connection with the case. Israeli media have reported that he has agreed to turn state’s witness.

GOVERNMENT STABLE

As reports of the police interviews emerged, protesters gathered outside the prime minister’s residence, demanding he step down.

Protestors shout slogans during a demonstration outside the Israeli Prime Minister's residency in Jerusalem, March 2, 2018. REUTERS/Ammar Awad

“We want to see Netanyahu go to trial and, if needed, go to jail or go home. Let our people go free from all the corruption surrounding the government and the head of it,” said Shimrit Orr, 72, a writer, from Tel Aviv.

There were a few dozen protesters, singing songs and banging plastic pipes on garbage cans. Some cars beeped their horns in support as they drove by.

“A prime minister under investigation cannot, and may not, take crucial decisions,” said Shuki Cohen, 63, an economist from Moshav Arugot.

The right-wing prime minister has been Israel’s dominant political figure for a generation, in power since 2009 and for 12 years in total since 1996. He says that he has done nothing wrong, and has said that he will seek a fifth term in an election due in late 2019.

In the two other cases in which police have already recommended that Netanyahu be charged, the final decision about whether or not to prosecute rests with the Israeli attorney general. That decision could be weeks or months away.

In one of the investigations, known as Case 1000, he is suspected of bribery over gifts, which police say were worth nearly $300,000, from wealthy businessmen.

The other, Case 2000, involves an alleged plot to win positive coverage in Israel’s biggest newspaper by offering to take measures to curtail the circulation of a rival daily.

So far, partners in Netanyahu’s governing coalition have stood by him, saying they are awaiting the attorney-general’s next moves. Political analysts say such support could erode if the investigations against Netanyahu intensify.

Slideshow (8 Images)

Netanyahu could also call a snap election to try to stall legal proceedings during the campaign and rally his rightwing power base behind him. Recent polls show Netanyahu’s Likud ahead of other factions in the Knesset.

However, surveys also show that about half of Israelis believe the police over Netanyahu and think he should step down. A third think he should remain in office.</s>JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will have a brief respite next week from the deluge of legal woes he faces when he heads to Washington to meet US President Donald Trump.

Even as he prepared for his trip, Netanyahu was again questioned by police in Jerusalem on Friday in connection with alleged corruption as concerns mount over whether he will eventually be forced from office.

Monday's visit to a White House that has shown enthusiastic support for Israel and Netanyahu may help bolster the long-serving prime minister, who has called Trump a "true friend" of his country.

Both men have used populist appeals in the face of investigations, with Netanyahu borrowing Trump's "fake news" moniker to denounce reports of his alleged corruption.

Israeli police recommended last month that Netanyahu is indicted in two corruption cases and investigations are continuing in others.

"I think they are partners in ideology, and the ideology is a populist, conservative ideology which says that the old liberal elites are against us," said Gayil Talshir, a political scientist at Jerusalem's Hebrew University.

"I think from that perspective it is a boost" for Netanyahu.

But Trump has given Netanyahu far more than moral support.

The United States is set to upturn decades of international consensus when it moves its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to the disputed city of Jerusalem in May.

Trump has also frozen tens of millions of dollars in aid to the Palestinians in a bid to force them to the negotiating table.

Both moves have left the Palestinian leadership outraged, accusing Trump's administration of blatant bias and declaring it can no longer serve as mediator in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

That, along with Trump son-in-law and senior aide Jared Kushner losing his top-level security clearance, has raised questions over whether Trump's pledge to reach the "ultimate" peace deal will get off the ground anytime soon.

Kushner has been among those heading up the White House's efforts to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Netanyahu may not be troubled by any such delay.

He appears more interested in speaking with Trump about other issues, such as Israel's arch-enemy Iran and its influence in neighbouring Syria.

He will likely seek to further push his case that the Iran nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers should be changed, said Zalman Shoval, a former Israeli ambassador to Washington.

"Israel, I think, is hoping that there will be a more active American role in trying to block, trying to stem, the Iranian advances in Syria," Shoval said.

Beyond his meeting with Trump, Netanyahu will address a conference organised by powerful pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC during his trip after having done so by satellite link the last two years.

The speech, expected on Tuesday, comes as Netanyahu faces what some in Israel see as an important concern: a growing divide between Republicans and Democrats over support for his country, according to at least one recent poll.

The United States remains by far Israel's most important ally, providing it with more than $3 billion per year in defence aid and key diplomatic backing.

But poll results released in January by the US-based Pew Research Centre showed 79 percent of Republicans sympathise more with Israel than the Palestinians, while 27 percent of Democrats said the same.

Although Netanyahu may want to avoid talk about the Palestinians during his trip, the decades-long conflict is certain to be on the agenda.

Trump has spoken of wanting to reach the elusive Israeli-Palestinian deal that repeated US presidents have been unable to achieve.

At the same time, many analysts have trouble seeing how progress can be made with the Palestinians angered and a pressured Netanyahu playing to his right-wing base -- not to mention Kushner no longer able to access America's most closely guarded secrets.

Aaron David Miller, a former US Middle East negotiator now with the Wilson Centre think-tank, said Kushner faces a "prestige problem", but that may make little difference.

"The Arab-Israeli peace process right now is so fraught, so challenged, so burdened with complexity and problems that Jared Kushner could have access to every piece of classified information in the world," he said.

"It would not help him significantly broker a deal."</s>This Friday morning began for the Israeli prime minister and his wife with the arrival of police forces, as the Jerusalem Post newspaper reports: Benjamin Netanyahu was questioned in his official residence in Jerusalem, his wife, Sara, was simultaneously testifying over her engagement in the "Bezeq affair," otherwise known as Case 4000 at the Israeli national police headquarters.

Case 4000 is connected with suspicions that while working as communications minister in 2014-2017, in addition to his prime ministerial post, that Netanyahu was helping the Bezeq group, controlled by Shaul Elovitch, in exchange for a beneficial image of Netanyahu and his policies in the media.

Sara Netanyahu, for her part, is suspected of communicating with Elovitch's wife, Iris, aiming to secure favorable coverage in another media outlet, Walla.

According to the Channel 10 News, back in 2015, she sent a message to Iris Elovitch concerning an article published in Walla, requesting her to change it in exchange for some benefits.

"You are killing me. You are slaughtering us. You are ruining the country," Sara Netanyahu stated, as quoted by the channel. "What kind of a website is it?" she asked. "What's going on here? Change it. Do something with it. You are the owners of the website. Do it quickly."

As the media outlet specifies, the police managed to obtain recordings from Walla CEO Ilan Yeshua, containing evidence of pressure he experienced from Shaul and Iris Elvoitch in this case.

READ MORE: Detectives Will Interrogate Benjamin Netanyahu In Two Corruption Cases This Week

According to the Channel 10 News fragments of the recordings Elovitch was appealing to Yeshua, saying that Netanyahu "made an effort for us, we should do the same for him."

Previously, the media had also presented a part of Yeshua's testimony, in which he describes the pressure the Elvoitch family put on him to fire Walla editor-in-chief Aviram Elad, after the latter approved an article on the "submarine affair" that "the Netanyahu couple didn't like."

As Yeshua specified, quoted by the channel, after the publication of the article in November 2016, Sara Netanyahu started looking into Elad's profile and found his other works, supporting the Iran nuclear deal, which Israel opposes.

READ MORE: Turkish Analysts Say There's Reason to Believe Netanyahu is Guilty of Corruption

Thus, as Yeshua stated, Elovitch had asked him to fire Elad, but he rejected this demand.

Reacting to all the charges against Netanyahu, the Prime Minister's office refuted them, labelling them "fake news."

READ MORE: Expert Explains What Consequences Netanyahu Corruption Case Might Have</s>Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's questioning is connected withThis Friday morning began for the Israeli prime minister and his wife with the arrival of police forces, as the Jerusalem Post newspaper reports:his wife, Sara, was simultaneously testifying over her engagement in theCase 4000 is connected with suspicions that while working as communications minister in 2014-2017, in addition to his prime ministerial post, thatAccording to the Channel 10 News, back in 2015,As the media outlet specifies, the police managed to obtain recordings from Walla CEO Ilan Yeshua, containing evidence of pressure he experienced from Shaul and Iris Elvoitch in this case.According to the Channel 10 News fragments of the recordings Elovitch was appealing to Yeshua, saying that Netanyahu "made an effort for us, we should do the same for him."Previously, the media had also presented a part of Yeshua's testimony, in which he describes the pressure the Elvoitch family put on him to fire Walla editor-in-chief Aviram Elad, after the latter approved an article on the "submarine affair" that "the Netanyahu couple didn't like."As Yeshua specified, quoted by the channel, after the publication of the article in November 2016, Sara Netanyahu started looking into Elad's profile and found his other works, supporting the Iran nuclear deal , which Israel opposes.Thus, as Yeshua stated,</s>Jerusalem (AFP) – Israeli police questioned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife for several hours on Friday over corruption allegations that threaten the rightwing premier’s long tenure.

The questioning, the eighth such session since 2017, came after police last month recommended Netanyahu’s indictment in two graft cases.

Israeli media said the five-hour grilling related to allegations Netanyahu sought a deal with Shaul Elovitch, the controlling shareholder of telecoms group Bezeq, which would have seen Netanyahu receive good press on Elovitch’s Walla! news website in exchange for business concessions.

Netanyahu, 68, has denied all charges and rejected talk of stepping down. He is due to meet US President Donald Trump, perhaps his closest international ally, at the White House on Monday.

An AFP journalist saw police arriving at Netanyahu’s official Jerusalem residence in two vehicles at around 9 am (0700 GMT).

His wife Sara was questioned at the national fraud squad headquarters near Tel Aviv, media said.

Elovitch and Nir Hefetz, a former media adviser to the Netanyahu family, were among seven suspects arrested last week as fraud suspicions against Netanyahu snowballed.

In addition, Israeli army radio said Friday that “a former senior communications ministry official close to the prime minister was detained this morning for questioning in the Bezeq affair.”

He was not named.

Channel 10 News reported on Thursday evening that police have seen text conversations between Sara and Elovitch’s wife Iris which strengthen suspicions that their husbands traded favours.

Iris Elovitch and the couple’s son Or were among the seven suspects rounded up last week.

She was released from custody to house arrest Monday and Or Elovitch was freed on bail, police said.

A statement issued after the broadcast by advisers to Netanyahu branded the report “fake news.”

“No such things ever occurred,” it said in Hebrew. “Tendentious and lying leaks against Mrs. Netanyahu are intended to hurt the prime minister and the Likud government.”

Hefetz is alleged to have acted as a messenger between Netanyahu and Bezeq and Walla! bosses.

He is also suspected of trying to bribe a retired judge to block a probe into the prime minister’s wife over alleged misuse of public funds.

Public radio said on Friday that both were being questioned at fraud squad headquarters simultaneously with Sara but separately.

Police have now questioned the premier eight times since the beginning of 2017, and last month said there was sufficient evidence to charge him with graft, fraud and breach of trust in two other cases.

In one, he and family members are suspected of receiving one million shekels ($285,000, 230,000 euros) of luxury cigars, champagne and jewellery from wealthy figures in exchange for financial or personal favours.

In the other case, investigators suspect the premier of trying to reach an agreement with the owner of Yediot Aharonot, a top Israeli daily newspaper, for more favourable coverage.

Israeli media said police would question him on the Bezeq affair for the first time on Friday and would also take from him a statement as a witness in suspected corruption around Israel’s purchase of three submarines from German industrial giant ThyssenKrupp.

The cases have fuelled speculation he could be forced to step down or call an early election but Netanyahu says he is innocent of any wrongdoing.

The other parties in his rightwing government have so far stood by him.

Eli Kamir, another former Netanyahu adviser arrested last week, was on Wednesday released from police custody but placed under house arrest.

Shlomo Filber, a Netanyahu ally for more than 20 years and former director general of the communications ministry, was freed last week after agreeing to turn state’s witness in exchange for avoiding jail, police said.

He is suspected of mediating between Netanyahu and Elovitch and promoting regulatory changes worth millions to Bezeq.</s>Jerusalem: Israeli police questioned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday for the first time in a corruption case that involves the country`s largest telecommunications company, Israel Radio said.

Along with two other corruption cases, in which Netanyahu is suspected of bribery, the probes announced in February pose a serious threat to the four-term prime minister`s political survival. Netanyahu denies any wrongdoing in all the cases.

In the newest investigation, known as Case 4000, police allege that the owners of Bezeq Israel Telecom provided favourable coverage of Netanyahu and his wife on a news website they controlled in return for favours from communications regulators.

A police spokesman declined comment on the report that the prime minister was questioned. A Reuters cameraman saw a vehicle carrying two police officers pull into the prime minister`s official residence on Friday morning.

Netanyahu`s wife Sara was also questioned at the same time as her husband, at a police station near Tel Aviv, her lawyer told Reuters. Sara Netanyahu`s interview took place under caution that she might be named as a suspect, the lawyer said.

Israeli media said the controlling shareholder of Bezeq Telecom, Shaul Elovitch, and Nir Hefetz, a former Netanyahu spokesman, were also being questioned. They are both in custody and have denied wrongdoing.

A representative for Elovitch had no immediate comment and Hefetz`s lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.

Shlomo Filber, a confidant of Netanyahu and former director general of the Communications Ministry, has also been arrested in connection with the case. Israeli media have reported that he has agreed to turn state`s witness.

About 70 protesters gathered outside the prime minister`s residence, demanding he step down.

"We want to see Netanyahu go to trial and, if needed, go to jail or go home. Let our people go free from all the corruption surrounding the government and the head of it," said Shimrit Orr, 72, a writer, from Tel Aviv.

Some cars beeped their horns in support as they drove by.

"A prime minister under investigation cannot, and may not, take crucial decisions,” said Shuki Cohen, 63, an economist from Moshav Arugot.

The rightwing prime minister has been Israel`s dominant political figure for a generation, in power since 2009 and for 12 years in total since 1996. He calls the allegations against him a "witch hunt" and has said he will seek a fifth term in an election due in late 2019.

Police recommended in February that Netanyahu be indicted in two other corruption investigations. The attorney-general must determine whether to accept the police recommendation to charge him. The final decision on both cases could take months.

In one, known as Case 1000, he is suspected of bribery over gifts, which police say were worth nearly $300,000, that he received from wealthy businessmen.

The other, Case 2000, involves an alleged plot to win positive coverage in Israel`s biggest newspaper by offering to take measures to curtail the circulation of a rival daily.

So far, partners in Netanyahu`s governing coalition have stood by him, saying they are awaiting the attorney-general`s next moves. Political analysts say such support could erode if the investigations against Netanyahu intensify.

Netanyahu could also call a snap election to try to stall legal proceedings during the campaign and rally his right-wing power base behind him.

Recent polls show that about half of Israelis believe the police over Netanyahu and think he should step down. A third think he should remain in office.</s>Israeli Police to Grill Netanyahu and Wife Sara Today for Suspected Bribery

Police will simultaneously question Netanyahu and his wife Sara on Friday on suspicion of taking bribes from media mogul as part of the so-called telecom affair</s>Israeli police were questioning Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife on Friday as part of an investigation into a corruption case involving the country’s telecom giant, casting a shadow on the prime minister’s trip to Washington next week.

Channel 10 TV showed footage of police entering Netanyahu’s residence. Reports said Netanyahu’s wife, Sara, was being questioned at another location.

Two Netanyahu confidants were arrested last month on suspicion of promoting regulation worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the Bezeq telecom company. In return, Bezeq’s news site, Walla, allegedly provided positive Netanyahu coverage.

It is the first time that Netanyahu, who as prime minister also held the communications portfolio until last year, is being questioned over the affair, known as Case 4,000.

The development comes ahead of Netanyahu’s visit to Washington where he is to meet with President Donald Trump and speak before the pro-Israel lobby Aipac next week.

Police have recommended indicting Netanyahu on corruption charges in two other cases.

Netanyahu is accused of accepting nearly $300,000 in lavish gifts from the Hollywood mogul Arnon Milchan and the Australian billionaire James Packer. In return, police say Netanyahu operated on Milchan’s behalf on US visa matters, legislated a tax break and connected him with an Indian businessman.

In the other case, Netanyahu is accused of offering a newspaper publisher legislation that would weaken his paper’s main rival in return for more favourable coverage. Netanyahu was reportedly recorded asking Arnon Mozes, the publisher of Yediot Ahronoth, for positive coverage in exchange for helping to weaken Israel Hayom, a free pro-Netanyahu newspaper that had cut into Yediot’s business.

Netanyahu has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and has dismissed the accusations as a witch-hunt orchestrated by a hostile media.</s>Israeli police Friday questioned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a suspect in a third corruption investigation that poses a serious challenge to the embattled leader, who so far has rallied support to maintain power, according to a report from Dow Jones Newswires supplied to EFE.

Police also questioned the prime minister's wife, Sara Netanyahu, regarding the case, conducting the interview at the same time as her husband but in a different location, a police spokeswoman said.</s>TEL AVIV—Israeli police questioned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a suspect in a third corruption investigation that poses a serious challenge to the embattled leader, who so far has rallied support to maintain power.

Police also questioned the prime minister’s wife, Sara Netanyahu, conducting the interview Friday at the same time as her husband’s but in a different location, a police spokeswoman said. The police haven’t yet ascertained whether the first lady is also a suspect, the spokeswoman said.
An Israel Police anti-corruption unit questions Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara.