Incoming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s son, Yair Netanyahu, has accused state prosecutors involved in the corruption charges against his father of treason and said they should be sentenced to death if found guilty.
“The crimes that these senior prosecutors – and people in the police department – committed are each worth five years in prison at a minimum. So that’s already about 10,000 total years in prison for all the crimes these people committed,” the younger Netanyahu told Galei Yisrael radio on Sunday.
The corruption charges are a “vicious attempt to overthrow the government,” he claimed.
According to Yair Netanyahu, they were a bid to “frame an innocent man,” which, in light of his father’s position as prime minister, is tantamount to “a coup d’état, which is treason.”
“Everyone is welcome to look up the law to see what the punishment is for treason. I’ll give you a hint – it isn’t a jail sentence,” he said.
The only time Israel has ever tried a citizen for treason and sentenced them to death was in the 1948 War of Independence, when a military court ordered a soldier to be shot. The only other occasion in which the death penalty was carried out was when Nazi Adolf Eichmann was hanged in 1962.
“I love my son Yair, who is an independent person with his own views,” the elder Netanyahu tweeted in response to his son. “Although everyone has the right to express criticism, I did not agree with the things he said that were published yesterday.”
The younger Netanyahu said the outrage surrounding his remarks by Israel’s “left-wing” media was nothing more than the result of “fake news.”
“Anyone who studied reading comprehension in school can easily understand that the purpose of what I said on the radio was to emphasize to listeners the severity of the criminal behavior of the prosecutors who frame [people], according to the Israeli law books.”
“I definitely did not call to hurt anyone.”
Many critics of Israel’s left-wing judiciary have accused the charges facing Netanyahu of being trumped up.
In Case 4000, the most serious charge, Netanyahu is accused of ordering that regulations on communications giant Bezeq be eased in return for the phone company’s chief shareholder Shaul Elovitch giving Netanyahu positive coverage on his news site Walla.
Case 1000 accuses Netanyahu and his wife Sara of receiving illegal gifts from billionaire benefactors, including Israeli-born Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan and Australian businessman James Packer.
File/Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, center, prays with his sons Avner Netanyahu, right, and Yair Netanyahu at the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray in Jerusalem’s Old City, Jan. 22, 2013. (AP Photo/Uriel Sinai, File)
In Case 2000, Netanyahu is suspected of striking a deal with media mogul Arnon (Noni) Mozes whereby the premier would weaken the Israel Hayom daily in return for more favorable coverage in Mozes’ Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.
In his defense, Netanyahu said that he specifically voted against the law that would have weakened Israel Hayom, risking his political career in 2014 and calling new elections because of it.
The prime minister-designate denies any wrongdoing.