Israeli Police: Foreign Minister Lieberman Should Be Indicted On Bribery, Fraud Charges

Israeli Police Recommend Indictment of Foreign Minister

JERUSALEM, Aug. 2 -- Israeli police Sunday recommended that the state indict Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on charges of bribery, fraud, money laundering, witness harassment and obstruction of justice.
A spokesman for the Justice Ministry said the file now moves to the state prosecutor's office and then to attorney General Menachem Mazuz who must approve the recommendation before Lieberman is formally indicted. That process could take weeks or even months. If the foreign minister is indicted he will have to resign, according to Israeli law.
Lieberman released a combative statement after the police announcement.
"For 13 years the police have conducted a campaign of persecution against me," he said. "As much as my political strength and the strength of (my party) Yisrael Beitenu rise, the campaign of persecution also intensifies."
He said he was innocent of all charges and called the investigation "judicial torture."
The Ha'aretz newspaper reported that Lieberman earned more than $600,000 as a salaried employee of his daughter's company from 2004 to 2006 when he was not a Knesset member or a minister. Ha'aretz reported that between 2004 and 2007 the company headed by Lieberman's daughter Michal received some three million dollars from anonymous sources overseas for "business consulting." LinkHere

50 Palestinians Evicted From Their Jerusalem Homes
Israeli workers unload the belongings of a Palestinan family in a street after they were evicted from their house in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, Sunday, Aug. 2, 2009. Israeli police evicted two Palestinian families from an east Jerusalem neighborhood on Sunday, drawing condemnations from Palestinians and the United Nations. Israeli police cited a ruling by the country's Supreme Court that the houses belonged to Jews and that the Arab families had been living there illegally. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

JERUSALEM — Israeli police evicted two Palestinian families in east Jerusalem on Sunday, then allowed Jewish settlers to move into their homes, drawing criticism from Palestinians, the United Nations and the State Department.
Police arrived before dawn and cordoned off part of the Arab neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah before forcibly removing more than 50 people, said Chris Gunness, spokesman for the U.N. agency in charge of Palestinian refugees.
U.N. staff later saw vehicles bringing Jewish settlers to move into the homes, he said.
Israeli police cited a ruling by the country's Supreme Court that the houses belonged to Jews and that the Arab families had been living there illegally.
Gunness said the families had lived in the homes for more than 50 years.
The status of east Jerusalem is one of the most explosive issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel took control of east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed it, a move not recognized by any other country. Since then, Israel has to boosted the Jewish presence there, building neighborhoods where about 180,000 Jews live. The Palestinians want east Jerusalem as the capital of their hoped-for state.
Organizations linked to the Jewish West Bank settlement movement also have bought properties inside Palestinian neighborhoods in Jerusalem and moved Israelis in.
About 270,000 Palestinians live in east Jerusalem, or 35 percent of the city's total population of 760,000. LinkHere

Record Number of Jews in Senate

When the new Congress debuts in January 2009, a record 45 Jews will take the oath of office: 32 in the House of Representatives and — regardless of the outcome in the still-contested Minnesota election — 13 Jews in the Senate. LinkHere