Netanyahu turns to rich friend to fund corruption trial fees
Source: AP
By TIA GOLDENBERG
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is on trial for accepting gifts from wealthy friends. But that has not stopped him from seeking another gift from a wealthy friend to pay for his multimillion-dollar legal defense.
The awkward arrangement opens a window into the very ties with billionaire friends that plunged Netanyahu into legal trouble and sheds light on the intersection of money and Israeli politics.
Netanyahu has asked an Israeli oversight committee to allow a 10 million shekel ($2.9 million) donation from Spencer Partrich, a Michigan-based real estate magnate, to fund his legal defense. Because Partrich also happens to be a witness in one of the cases, the committee has asked the country’s attorney general for his opinion on the matter.
The request for financial aid from a friend is not illegal, and Israeli politicians have a long tradition of hobnobbing with wealthy Jewish supporters abroad. But to some, the optics of Netanyahu’s request are sketchy.
File - In this Sunday, May 24, 2020 file photo, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accompanied by members of his Likud Party in masks, delivers a statement before entering the district court in Jerusalem. Netanyahu is on trial for accepting gifts from wealthy friends. But that has not stopped him from seeking another gift from a wealthy friend to pay for his multi-million-dollar legal defense. The awkward arrangement opens a window into the very ties with billionaire friends that plunged Netanyahu into legal trouble and sheds light on the intersection of money and Israeli politics. (AP Photo/Yonatan Sindel/Pool Photo via AP, File)
Read more: https://apnews.com/81f767e416c4df35a0e007345fc6b4d0
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