Inside Israel Today: The State's Witness Speaks

you're listening to inside Israel today with your Hoffman on the land of Israel Network welcome to inside Israel today here on the land of Israel Network on the land of Israel calm amid all the excitement that's going on for Israel here in Jerusalem across the ocean in Washington and around the world if you know it that it is a big news day when a meeting between the Prime Minister of Israel and the President of the United States is not even close to the biggest news um in the past that would always be such a big deal especially when there were the fights between Obama and Netanyahu here you had Netanyahu and Trump meet for the fifth time since the campaign with very impressive five times on Netanyahu has met with Trump more than he I know and the other world leader has I believe and that shows the closeness of the relationship we saw how Donald Trump talked about how the the relationship between Israel in America has never been better and then immediately Netanyahu about other relationship has never been better they agreed it's so nice to see an Israeli prime minister and an American president agree and then after they you know exchange their superlatives and everything with Netanyahu comparing Donald Trump to Cyrus the Great that allowed the Jews to rebuild a temple and and Balfour who allowed there to be mass influx of Jews returning to their homeland with the world recognizing Israel and the Land of Israel as the homeland for the Jewish people and allowing a state eventually because of that declaration to be built here then Netanyahu and Trump we're even nice to the media the press secretary of the president told the journalists who were there in the room with him with Netanyahu and Trump enough they've made their statements it's time for you to go and Donnell Weiss of Israeli channel 2 said in one minute and started asking questions and Trump didn't only take one question he took question after question after question all the headlines that you're seeing that came from this event came from the question/answer part not from the superlatives that they issued at the beginning she asked him are you going to be coming to Israel for the opening of the American Embassy that we highlighted on our show last week when we were there on location she mentioned inside Israel today but I am and Trump first said I may come I'd like to come I'll try to come I like Israel again he said so it even though he didn't really give a headline like my my tweet was um dot dot dot breaking question mark Trump announces that he quote may come to Israel for the opening of the embassy so it was kind of an anti-climax but he was being honest he was telling of truth I don't have the slightest idea if I'm coming yet it's way too soon for me to know where I'm going to be in May and you know from the American standpoint that might sound odd or whatever because Americans like planning things well in advance from the Israeli standpoint that sounds like totally cool and normal you know we don't plan things more than four days in advance either good you don't know yet we don't know yet all right if anything would was much more strange for his Raley's to hear was the speech of nikki Haley overnight is real-time at the AIPAC policy conference where she said much more clear that she would be coming to Israel but that's in May how do you already know we're very impressed by that Wow you can plan that far in advance but it's March that's in May and so but it wasn't a final yes either and so with all due respect at least from the public aspects of Netanyahu's meeting with Trump there wasn't really a headline and that's okay we like it when they don't fight there's always a headline when they fight they don't have to fight and we hope that there were plenty of what could potentially be headlines if we knew about them but we don't have to know about them behind closed doors as they were working on the serious issues like Iran and how to stop its nuclear ization with deadlines coming ahead that the Trump administration set for that and perhaps finalizing details on Trump's Middle East peace plan that it's very nice that he's talking to Netanyahu about it before let's not forget Barack Obama announced a peace plan the day before Netanyahu was set to arrive in Washington so that is definitely a very serious improvement and yet so because there was no headline immediately with all due respect um there are other issues that really overshadowed the meeting between Netanyahu and Trump yesterday as hard as that is to believe over the last few years when I needed quotes about Netanyahu there have always been people that are referred to in Hebrew as mokou Vevey as people close to and in English we usually translate that as as the Associates of the prime minister and these associates have come and gone you know it's not an easy job working in the Prime Minister's office it's not an easy job working with Netanyahu in particular who's not in the most easygoing kind of fella and his wife gets involved and she is certainly not an easy-going kind of person according to everyone who's had any experiences with her and there was one guy though who kept on coming back who seemed to just really see the Netanyahu as personal friends as someone who really really liked them enjoyed their company Sarah included and so no mater what would happen with the comings and goings in the office of Netanyahu he would tend to always be there his name is near Heifetz and yesterday near Heifetz became a state's witness against Prime Minister Netanyahu Sarah Netanyahu and even their prized eldest son yet year that is a very big deal ladies and gentlemen near Heifetz was the guy who did all the dirty work for them a new reference was their messenger to do things that embarrassed them that they didn't want to do publicly and he knows about everything that they have done and it's just really shocking to hear him speaking against the Netanyahu's because the last time I spoke to near clef it's at length ahead of a speaking tour this is what he had to say about them Netanyahu is an expert internationally on terror and the economy he's sought after by the world there is no political threat for him on the horizon in the Likud or in the country the investigations are just being advanced by the Hebrew press he totally downplayed them he said that the Donald Trump learned from its Inyo to avoid the pressure of the of the media by using social media as an interesting point he talked to me about when the thing I was going through about how he's bothered daily with questions on these irrelevant investigations when he's supposed to be dealing with serious things that he goes to the security cabinet and he gets prevented from working because he gets a little note from an aide telling him that his lawyers are on the phone and or that there was some kind of leak from the police to the nightly news on TV and he has to go and talk to his lawyers about those leaks and how to respond to them he's told me that this happens almost every week which is a very very big deal um he told me that it also works the opposite you know when he was being questioned by police he got a call from the President of the United States and he had to tell the police um I've got the president knighted States on the phone can I take this call now I don't know about you ladies and gentlemen when you've been stopped for speeding and you're kind of in a hurry can you tell the police excuse me you know police I know these laws are really important to you but I'm in a hurry and I've got the President of the United States on the phone I wish that would work for me ladies and gentlemen and netanyahu's didn't apparently it worked the funny part was he said can I briefly take this call as if he doesn't know who the president a knighted stay says Donald Trump doesn't do briefly he's not up briefly kind of guy so near Heifetz told me even if all of what they're reporting about the investigations is correct it's still no big deal so nothing accepted cigars gifts for his wife big deal he downplayed the amount of money he downplayed what the millionaires could have received in return and said is this a reason to replace such a popular and successful prime minister he mocked the police for going so far in their investigations but still not coming up with any serious evidence he said they've had a hundred 50 witnesses and they're bothering people all day Netanyahu can't accept gifts or or even a book while Donald Trump has accepted bathrobes from the Saudis made out of the fur of a cheetah you know I've used that line in pretty much every lecture since near except it's told it to me I guess that's pretty amazing you know cheetahs are pretty hard to catch they're really fast animals and the Saudis cottage couple cheetahs I guess to make bathrobes I'm sure that costs a pretty penny nittany I can't accept a book new habits pointed out and then he defended Sarah Netanyahu he said Sarah they had all these different investigations against her and in the end the police recommended an indictment only on ordering meals from a caterer despite her having a chef when there are important events happening and even that he downplayed the amount of money that that cost he said there were 70 witnesses and 16,500 documents and that's all they could come up with against her he totally mocked these charges in a way that really impressed me and really helped my speaking tours and now he is a witness against Netanyahu and Sarah a state's witness means that he's supposed to spill the beans it really is a betrayal of the suspects why did he do this the police convinced him to turn state's witness with a couple of methods number one they said why are you defending netanyahu he's toast he's going to jail anyway we've got so much dirt on him you're defending a political corpse how is this gonna help your career anyway save your own behind and if you hear that over and over again and they give enough evidence that they actually do have evidence then that's the kind of thing makes you spill the beans but even more than that they played dirtier they kept on making fun of Netanyahu about how Netanyahu could have had questioning earlier that the only reason why new heifers are still in prison was that he needed to be in prison while Netanyahu's questioning happened so they could prevent colluding and he said there's no police said to him there's no reason for you to be in prison for so long it's Netanyahu he's delaying and delaying and delaying is questioning all the bugs that are biting you in that prison all there how uncomfortable it is it's only because I'm gonna tune yau he obviously doesn't care about you and they went even further they went even further and they took the testimony of at least sarah netanyahu possibly the the prime minister as well from friday and played tapes too near habits of when Sarah was saying incriminating things about him and that's the kind of thing that okay that's the last straw she's doing that to me I'm doing that to him the same thing happened with Sheila's Aachen with Olmert Sheila's Aachen was all Mertz loyal secretary for more than 20 years she considered him a father and when she found out that Olmert incriminated her she became state's witness she had already served prison time for him not just like house like little arrests temporarily being held for a reason the like what happened to her efforts she served months in prison to defend all Mert and didn't spill the beans against him until they proved to her he's incriminating you and then she finally cracked near Kravitz cracked much quicker and it's absolutely amazing that the ultimate defender of Sarah Netanyahu is now turned against her and against yet ear Netanyahu the prized eldest son who for a long time people were joking that he would be the next prime minister taking over from his father in another 20 years it works in different places in the Middle East it could work here it's little Yair has gotten in trouble lately gone to strip clubs gotten to really unnecessary fights on social media and while walking his dog may she rest in peace and yesterday it came out an ear cuff it's is accusing the Prime Minister of listening to bad advice from me iron it to me ow then endangered Israel's security we don't know what specifically it might have been related to the metal detectors that were controversially placed in the entrance to my on the Temple Mount it might have been referring to an incident involving Israel welcoming Netanyahu in particular welcoming with open arms literally hugging the security guard at the Embassy in a man who killed people apparently in self-defense but still look really bad in among these were decisions that were apparently later regretted where Netanyahu listened to a year Netanyahu over security authorities over the heads of security agencies in Israel yeah you're Netanyahu with all due respect is not a military hero like his father and like his uncle yeah you're Netanyahu served in the spokesman Z none of the IDF and you know what so did I and it's hard work and they do great work but we're not heroes it's different than going on Sabeena plane and in rescuing hijackers like his father did it's different than going to Entebbe like yet you're knitting yeah like yoni Netanyahu yeah you're Netanyahu's uncle did and was a hero over there killed in action and so if near Heifetz spilled the beans against the iron netanyahu that could lead to him getting in trouble too there are police recommendations to indict Serra and the Prime Minister so far nothing against ya year he's going to be questioned soon in the investigations as well and so the news with the to now is definitely heating up and after the break we're going to be talking about how the politics is also heating up stay with us who are we as a people who are we as a nation what does it mean to be a Jew in the land of Israel as a Jew in Judea what is our message to the world were finally back in our land and we get to ask these questions Misrata xem we're gonna make Judea and Samaria an issue for the entire world to know that the Jews have a place in the world Israel inspired with Arya Brom woods and Jeremy Gimpel on the Land of Israel network at the Land of Israel calm [Music] and we're back here on inside Israel today on the Land of Israel network on the Land of Israel calm just a stress before I get into the politics Netanyahu is innocent until proven guilty and while these are dramatic developments there have been state's witnesses before and we don't know if those state's witnesses gave information that ended up really incriminating the prime minister the police have made the recommendations that Netanyahu is guilty of bribery but it's all in the hands of the Attorney General and he can decide that all the different cases against Netanyahu he is innocent as in as a newborn baby clean and white as snow and as people who care about the future of Israel we have to pray for them we have to pray that our prime minister really is innocent and really didn't do anything wrong we don't want to be a corrupt country we don't want to have a corrupt prime minister we want it all to be proven false we want Israel to be the light into the nations that the prophets said we would be so uh I'm not an investigator I'm not a policeman um I don't know if he's guilty or innocent I hope he's innocent and sure even the biggest critics of Netanyahu also hope he's innocent that being said we might be going to elections whether is guilty or innocent and whether it's good for Netanyahu were bad for Netanyahu to go to elections strange irony that when after talking for months about whether we'll end up going to elections because one of the coalition partners would force him down because of the police recommendations to indict him and then they didn't we might go to elections anyway for something as a run-of-the-mill as a fight over conscripting ultra-orthodox students into the army that's been going on for twenty years I remember when I was first starting out of the Jerusalem Post I covered the recommendations of the Tal report written by Justice Supreme Court justice tal who gave a formula for drafting is Sheva students that really result in a lot of yeshiva students being able to evade army service and Supreme Court eventually ruled that unconstitutional even it was written by former Justice of the Supreme Court as well as a very brilliant team of lawyers including a very high-paid very impressive lawyer at the time new tie is a curt sock was on that committee and now he is of course the leader of our opposition to Netanyahu and so way back when they were still dealing with that and here we are still today this could bring the teen Yahoo's government down and the answer is yes if they're not willing to compromise it's kind of ridiculous because the deadline to that the Supreme Court gave to resolve this issue to pass some kind of bill that would change the current situation is September but the ultra-orthodox politicians are saying no you have to fix that by the 15th of March by the time that the Knesset goes on recess already now but wait a second we were supposed to pass the budget by then they're saying we won't vote on the budget if you don't pass that first and the finance ministers wait a second the goal of our government is to pass the budget I'm not voting on anything else until we pass that budget and if we don't pass the budget which is you know with everything our government has put everything into and all our accomplishments then there's no point in me staying finance minister I'm gonna quit and then there won't be an election there won't be a government there'll be an election and so as long as the ultra-orthodox and the finance minister are saying exact opposite things and not coming down from the tree then we're going to initiate an election next week we could already start a three-month process of electing new people and every party half of the Knesset members won't come back all because of in a proposal on conscription of ultra-orthodox soldiers that's due in September and a state budget for 2019 that's due on the 31st of March of 2019 you haven't even hit the 31st of March of 2018 by law in Israel if you don't pass the budget by the end of March for the coming year your government falls apart well we already passed the budget for 2018 a long time ago but we could unravel that whole thing now if we want and still have time to fix it and so they're working on compromises behind the scenes Naftali Bennet in particular wants to prevent the election from happening or at least make it look like you worked to prevent the election from happening he's called it a fake crisis and I hope he succeeds elections are pretty intense and busy time for me but after he reported that he convinced the ultra-orthodox to slightly come down from the tree lit ceman the main ultra-orthodox Knesset member who was unwilling to compromise said no I am NOT compromised in any kind of way Netanyahu himself in a briefing for reporters after his meeting in Washington with Donald Trump said I don't want elections I did try to fix it this crisis before I left I will try to fix him when I come back but so far no my coalition partners are not compromising in any way and it doesn't really look like they will it's not too late I don't think it's gonna happen this week with Netanyahu's in Washington but next week there are all kinds of tools at their disposal they can delay deadlines they can delay the Supreme Court's deadlines they can ask the Supreme Court to say you know September's too soon we need more time and it's totally legitimate the Supreme Court to give more time they've done it before they could ask the finance minister how about we extend the Knesset session for another week and then we pass just the first reading of what the ultra-orthodox want along with the final readings of the budget passed into law the same day how about that that can still work and that can still prevent elections and then they go off to their holiday recesses for Passover they're ready out on March 15th for Passover they're out three weeks in advance two weeks they're out two weeks in advance for Passover that gives them plenty of time to clean their kitchens then they've got their time to celebrate with their families and avoid eating any leavened bread and then they've got time to put all their Passover dishes back in there boy tombs and they clean up and they're still not going back and they still have yo mats mode our 70th birthday of Israel of Independence to celebrate and before that of course the OMA z-car on our Memorial Day for following soldiers is the only time after that to recover they're only coming back at the beginning of May and then of course the focus will be preparing for more celebrations especially if Donald Trump changes his may come to a really will come and is here to cut the ribbon on that preexisting building that we were reported from on inside Israel today last week so that ceremony could be happening with Netanyahu as prime minister and sitting pretty and and and no political problems or it could be happening in the middle of an election that would be very intense and it could very well be that those Criminal Investigations will be the focus of the dirtiest election ever an election that would be fought over political cleanliness could end up being anything but clean and because that could happen because the police could get involved in leaked various things if I'm Netanyahu I do everything possible in the next ten days to appease everyone find a way tell them to get over it these are not legitimate arguments they're ridiculous the people of Israel don't understand and they're right not to understand why you would go to an election about not meeting artificial deadlines when the real deadlines are so far away Netanyahu needs to stop this from his own political good especially if he's really guilty he needs to be staying in power as long as he can right now the next elections aren't even set for until November of 2019 why have elections in June instead that would happen if elections are initiated in March that is another 17 months that he could have in power plus the time that it takes to form a new government afterward another couple months who gives up 19 months in power and legally the investigations wouldn't bring him down at during that time possibly because the Attorney General needs time to go through all the evidence and there's always new evidence now with near heifetz and others joining this investigation it's going to take even longer than anyone expected for the Attorney General to make the decision and then there's the reports that the Attorney General is not even gonna decide out any of the investigations until he's done on all of them that could make it be that he won't be done until the elections would take place on time in November of 2019 so it's always fun in Israeli politics and when you've got this much going on in Israeli politics and this much going on in criminal investigations even a meeting between the Prime Minister of Israel the president nighted States becomes a big deal they've met a few times before he praised him he praised him they've done that before too it's not really front-page news amazing what happens here inside Israel today thank you for being with us on our show stay tuned to all the excitement that happened as it happens here on the land of Israel Network on the land of israel calm and also of course at the jerusalem post thank you and Shalom from Traverse