Benjamin Netanyahu’s face at the online campaign event his Likud party hosted on Wednesday afternoon was pale and drawn. A new series of allegations was coming out from the legal authorities, pounced upon by an eager press, and it was at the worst possible timing.
Less than three weeks before the election on April 9, the mysterious sale of shares in his American cousin’s company that had netted him nearly $4 million in 2010, was coming to light. When had he bought the shares? With whose money? Why hadn’t reported his holdings in a conflict of interest memo? And was the fact that the company had been bought by a major supplier of a German shipyard which builds submarines for the Israeli Navy, connected to Netanyahu’s controversial decision to expand the underwater forces?
In an attempt to wrest the news-agenda away from his financial dealings, the prime minister launched in to a tirade against his main challenger Benny
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