Israel’s Security Chiefs Were Once Beyond Suspicion. No Longer.
An investigation into Thyssenkrupp defense contracts has opened a sacred sector to public scrutiny.
The security-first prime minister is under attack.
Photographer: JACK GUEZ/AFPLate last week, in the midst of an Israeli political crisis that has stalemated the creation of a new government for nine months, the state prosecutor handed down indictments to some of Israel’s most trusted former naval officers and senior officials. It may not change the immediate political impasse, but the scandal over defense procurement sheds an unflattering light on an area of Israeli policy that most voters are unaccustomed to questioning.
In what is known as Case 3000, the men are charged with bribery, fraud and money laundering. At the center of the case is Israeli businessman Miki Ganor, a former naval officer who is now the Israeli representative of German shipbuilder Thyssenkrupp. Ganor had been a key state’s witness who changed his mind and is now among the indicted.