David Shimron and Benjamin Netanyahu
Israeli police on Thursday recommended bribery charges against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's lawyer and five other suspects in a $2 billion sale of German Thyssenkrupp submarines to Israel.
Netanyahu was questioned by police in the investigation but, in a statement announcing its conclusion, police reiterated that the prime minister is not a suspect.
The deal for three submarines and four patrol vessels has been the subject of a corruption investigation since 2016 after Israel's Channel 10 TV reported that David Shimron, Netanyahu's personal lawyer and a distant relative, also represented the local agent of Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems, raising concerns of a conflict of interest.
An Israeli military force on Thursday tore down a tent that was being used as a classroom for Palestinian students in the Jordan Valley region of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, according to a Palestinian official.“Israeli officials attempted to justify the move by saying the tent was erected without a license,” Mutaz Bisharat, a Palestinian Authority (PA) official responsible for tracking Israeli settlement activity in the region, told Anadolu Agency on Thursday.The Israeli army, Bisharat said, had torn down the makeshift classroom and prevented teachers and students from reaching the site.Jewish settlers converge on J'lem's Aqsa Mosque complexLast month, Israeli forces -- using the same excuse -- dismantled a number of makeshift classrooms set up for Palestinian students in the same area.Early this year, the Palestinian Education Ministry set up the classroom in Ibziq village with a view to providing local Bedouin communities with basic education.Under the 1993 Oslo agreement between Israel and the PA, the occupied West Bank was divided into Areas A, B and C.Area A falls under the PA’s administrative and security control; Area B falls under the PA’s administrative control and Israel’s security control; and Area C -- which includes the Jordan Valley region -- falls under the exclusive administrative and security control of Israel.Area C is home to some 300,000 Palestinians, many of whom are part of Bedouin communities that continue to follow a nomadic lifestyle.US lawmakers rip Israel bill to seize church landSaudis used Israeli spyware to track Khashoggi: Snowden
Israel demolishes makeshift classroom in Jordan Valley
"I did not commit any crime," Shimron told Israel's YNet news website, which asked him about the police recommendations to prosecutors and posted an audio clip of his comments.
Shimron's office and a spokesman both declined immediate comment when contacted by Reuters. The spokesman said a statement would be issued later.
"Our information comes so far only from the press, we do not yet have any confirmed information," a spokesman for Thyssenkrupp said in a statement. "As soon as we know all the facts, we will examine further measures within the framework of legal possibilities."
The other suspects facing possible indictment include retired senior naval officers and former government officials.
Netanyahu has been named as a suspect in three other corruption investigations. In February, police recommended charging him with bribery in the first two. Israel's attorney-general is weighing whether to indict him.