Israel: Thousands demonstrate against corruption

Thousands of Israelis took to the streets and main centres across Tel Aviv on Saturday in protest against government corruption, Quds Press reported.

The protesters headed to the house of the Israeli gas tycoon Kobi Maimon whose name was mentioned in a leaked recording of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s son.

During the demonstrations, protesters chanted against Netanyahu, the authorities and capitalism.

Eldad Yanif, one of the organisers, said: “There is no real opposition. We are currently staging weekly protests and calling only for recommendations by the police. Doubtlessly, thousands of Israelis are going to join the anti-corruption protests soon.”

In a recording, broadcast by the Israel Television Channel, Yair Netanyahu, the prime minister’s son, told Ori Maimoun, the son of the Israeli gas tycoon, that his father helped advance a $20 billion deal in the Knesset which benefited Kobi Maimoun.

Yair and Ori can be heard talking about strippers and how much money they spent.

Read: Thousands march in Tel Aviv to protest against Netanyahu, corruption, again

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under investigation in a number of cases including one dubbed Case 2000 which sees him face allegations of negotiating a deal for more favourable media coverage with Arnon Mozes, publisher of popular Hebrew-language newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.

After grilling Netanyahu six times, last month Israel Police also announced that Case 1000, in which the prime minister is accused of receiving bribes from prominent businessmen, had been strengthened by the testimony of Australian billionaire James Packer.

Packer’s Israeli liaison Roman Abramov is also believed to have been among the group of Yair’s friends in the recording.