fbpx

News

Opponents take aim at Netanyahu ahead of State Comptroller report

[ssba]

Party rivals yesterday criticised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security and diplomatic policies on the eve of the publication of a long-anticipated State Comptroller’s report into expenditure at the Prime Minister’s residence.

The report which will be published this afternoon will examine allegations of excessive and wasteful expenditure of public money at the residence in Jerusalem and the Netanyahu family home in Ceasarea. The report comes amid additional accusations from a former member of the residence staff including suggestions that Netanyahu’s wife profited from depositing empty bottles left over from official functions. This morning’s Maariv speculates that the findings of the State Comptroller’s report will be “very severe” while Haaretz says that Netanyahu’s Likud Party is already preparing its response exactly a month ahead of Israel’s general election.

Yesterday, Netanyahu’s political opponents criticised his security and diplomatic credentials at a conference in Tel Aviv. Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog called Netanyahu a “failure on security,” saying, “Under his watch, Jerusalem was divided up by large concrete blocks. Under his watch, we were attacked in the North. Under his watch, thousands of terrorists made advances.”

Meanwhile, Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid criticised Netanyahu’s decision to address Congress on 3 March, which has been interpreted by some as collusion with US President Obama’s political opponents. Lapid said, “It’s a Greek tragedy. Everything that he [Netanyahu] warned against for years will happen in the end because of him: a Middle East nuclear arms race, a tense balance of threats, an American cold shoulder against an existential threat to Israel.”

The latest poll published yesterday by Channel Two suggested a tight race in next month’s ballot. The survey predicted that the Zionist Union would secure 25 Knesset seats, with Likud close behind on 24 seats. However, 67 per cent of those surveyed said that they expected Netanyahu to be the next Prime Minister, just 17 per cent predicted Herzog would be Israel’s next leader.