ISRAEL’S attorney general has asked police to delay issuing their recommendations into corruption allegations against prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Police were scheduled to present their long-awaited findings this week. However, officials said attorney general Avichai Mandelblit wants the court to first rule on the petition of a right-wing lawyer who is seeking a gagging order on details of the investigation.
One probe reportedly concerns allegations Netanyahu improperly received lavish gifts from Hollywood and business figures.
Another regards secret talks with the publisher of a major Israeli newspaper in which the Netanyahu allegedly requested positive coverage in exchange for reining in a free pro-Netanyahu daily.
The prime minister denies wrongdoing and has dismissed the accusations as a witch hunt orchestrated by a hostile media.
The Israeli government is also under pressure for the trial of 17-year-old Palestinian protester Ahed Tamimi in an Israeli military court for slapping and punching two Israeli soldiers.
Tamimi struck soldiers outside her West Bank home after having learned that Israeli troops seriously wounded a 15-year-old cousin, shooting him in the head from close range with a rubber bullet during nearby stone-throwing clashes.
The teenager, who was arrested in December, is one of an estimated 300 Palestinian minors currently in Israeli jails.
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