The Resistible Rise of Benjamin Netanyahu by Neill Lochery

Author:Neill Lochery
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781632864734
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2016-08-17T14:07:06+00:00

18

Invisible

His swagger and deeply held sense of inner confidence did not desert Netanyahu as he took his break from political life in Israel, which he preferred to think of simply as a sabbatical. Israel’s first and longest serving Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, had taken a voluntary sabbatical at the start of the 1950s, before returning to lead the nation in the 1956 War.

Netanyahu’s own sabbatical was far less of a voluntary one, but the fact that he considered it to be one at all was a clear indication that he saw his exile from political leadership in Israel as temporary and not permanent.

Netanyahu used his temporary political exile to multiply his personal wealth. His speaking activities alone brought him considerable income. Globes Israel estimated that he was paid $60,000 per engagement and gave more than 20 speeches a year around the world. This resulted in him making a profit of around NIS 15 million (New Israeli Shekels) from his speaking activities alone to foreign businesses and at wealthy universities.1

Netanyahu’s earning potential was not restricted to the speaking circuit; he was also much sought after in the consultancy field. Forbes Israel outlined his activities during the period he was out of office:

1. Served for two years as a strategic advisor to BATM Advanced Communications Ltd. He received a salary of several hundred thousand shekels a year, and options, which he subsequently exercised.

2. Electric Fuel (name changed to Arotech Corporation), which he helped broker a deal with Wal-Mart Stores.

3. Earned $150,000 for holding approximately 15 meetings with wealthy people, including the billionaires Idan Ofer and Poju Zabludowicz on behalf of Electric Fuels. Globes claimed he received $2.5 million in salary and stock options from these two companies.

4. Senior strategic advisor to Net2Wireless Communications, which he took up in November 2001.2

In 2013, Forbes Israel described Netanyahu as Israel’s sixth richest politician. The magazine estimated his fortune at around NIS 41 million. The magazine argued that Netanyahu had made the vast majority of his personal wealth in the period from 1999 and 2001.3

In the United States it was perfectly normal for former leaders to make a post-office earning in this manner, but in Israel it raised more than a few eyebrows. Past prime ministers of the country had quietly retired and written their memoirs, and made extensive use of the small office in Tel Aviv that the state provided to all ex-leaders. None had tried to accumulate a private fortune in the manner that Netanyahu had done.

Netanyahu also courted controversy, when it transpired that he held an offshore bank account with the Royal Bank of Scotland in Jersey, reputed to be one of the best tax havens in the world. Netanyahu did not break any laws, but it created the impression of trying to avoid full tax exposure on his enhanced income. Though the holding of an offshore account was not illegal, the Israeli tax authorities discouraged the practice.4

When details of the account became public 15 years later, it was cited by Netanyahu’s political enemies as evidence of his lack of Zionist Israeli credentials.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.