Ari Harow, a senior aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the state’s witness in 1000 and 2000 cases, was convicted of fraud and breach of trust as part of a plea agreement.
Harow, who was a former adviser and chief of staff for Netanyahu’s office, became the state’s witness against his former boss and mentor in Cases 1000 and 2000, the Illegal Gifts Affair and the Yediot Aharonot-Israel Hayom Attempted Media Bribery Affair.
He was sentenced to six months of community service and a fine of NIS 700,000.
Harow faced fraud and breach of trust charges, but made a plea bargain to testify against his former boss. After his testimony, he is set to serve six months of community service and pay a NIS 700,000 fine.
According to the indictment, before entering the position of chief of staff in the Prime Minister’s Office in January 2014, as part of the request to resolve a conflict of interest issue, Harow conducted a fictitious sale of a private company that he owned, which dealt with consulting and guidance in government policy areas.
He falsely declared that he had severed all ties to the company and therefore received approval to enter his position as chief of staff. According to the indictment, in 2014, a company called “NIP Global” invited then-president of Madagascar Hery Rajaonarimampianina, who conditioned his visit to Israel on holding an official meeting with then-president Shimon Peres or Netanyahu.
Harow admitted to assisting in the coordination of the meeting between Rajaonarimampianina and Netanyahu, which served as a conflict of interest.
Harow defended actions against Netanyahu
In a Jerusalem Post article in 2017, Harow stressed that his time serving under Netanyahu was perceived by him as an act of Zionism.
Harow told his associates that he did not turn his back on Netanyahu and that he did not believe his actions were criminal.
Harow told friends that his decision to become a state’s witness was nothing like that of Shula Zaken, former prime minister Ehud Olmert’s personal secretary, who testified against him and essentially criminalized him by providing evidence that led to his sentencing.
“It is nothing like it,” said Harow, “It is not that I broke the law with Netanyahu, and now I am looking for a way to blame it on him so I can get away with it. I am being blamed for something that has nothing to do with me… It is not a situation in which either me or him [Netanyahu] is going to jail, but whether I am going to jail without a reason or not.”
Harow added that people think that being a state’s witness means that someone from inside is coming to rat on their boss, but he believes that it is not true. “Case 2000 is not an affair that I opened; it is something that I was caught up in unwillingly…It will take time, but people will understand that I am not what they thought as a state’s witness – not in the charges I have against me and not in the deal I’ve signed.”
Harow also said that the actions by Netanyahu about which he testified are not criminal offenses.
“I didn’t think so then, and I don’t think so now,” he said. “This is why the claim that I came there to ‘rat on Netanyahu’ is not true. I don’t think like that.”
Udi Shaham contributed to this article.
