TEL AVIV, Israel -- Benjamin Netanyahu's legal woes deepened Wednesday after one of the leader's closest confidants agreed to testify against him in a growing corruption scandal.
Shlomo Filber, the suspended Communications Ministry director and onetime chief of Netanyahu's bureau, signed an agreement to become state witness. He turned on his former boss less than a week after police recommended pressing charges against Netanyahu in two other influence-peddling cases -- and a day after news broke that police were investigating whether another longtime Netanyahu associate sought to bribe a judge.
Filber's state-witness agreement was seen in Israel as a significant development, especially after former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert went to jail for bribery in 2016 after his longtime secretary turned against him.
"Filber is a close confidant of the prime minister who can fully connect all the dots of all the people," said Keevoon Global Research head Mitchell Barak, who served as an aide to Netanyahu more than 20 years ago.
Aluf Benn, editor-in-chief of the Haaretz daily, wrote Wednesday that "these are the final days of Benjamin Netanyahu's rule" and that "Netanyahu's leadership has been dealt a harsh blow, apparently a mortal one."
While Netanyahu's allies have rallied to his defense and no indictments have been served, the scandal has called into question his ability to function as Israel's leader at a time when security threats are growing on Israel's northern and southern borders.
Filber told police that he was just carrying out Netanyahu's orders when he took steps to help Israel's largest telecommunications company, whose chairman was Netanyahu's friend, Hadashot News reported Wednesday night, citing what it said were transcripts of Filber's testimony.
The station later broadcast a short statement from Netanyahu denying Filber's reported claims. Netanyahu has denied wrongdoing, framing the corruption allegations as part of a wider effort by left-wing opponents and journalists to bring down his government.
Criminal charges against Filber in a related case will be dropped in exchange for his testimony, Hadashot reported. The Israel Police spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.
Avi Gabbay, head of the opposition Labor Party, declared, "The Netanyahu era is over."
Filber already had been investigated on suspicion of crafting rules to benefit Bezeq Israeli Telecommunication Corp., controlled by Netanyahu's friend Shaul Elovitch. In a new twist to the case, Filber and another Netanyahu aide were detained earlier this week as investigators probe whether the ministry helped Bezeq in exchange for positive coverage of Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, on the company's Walla! news outlet.
Netanyahu, who in February last year stepped down as communications minister because of his friendship with Elovitch, insisted Tuesday that he had done nothing to help the company.
"All decisions concerning Bezeq are made by professional committees, by professionals, under close legal supervision," he said in a Facebook post.
On Wednesday evening, he projected business as usual.
At a gathering of Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, he spoke about Israel's diplomatic and technological successes as well as regional developments and the threat of "Iran's aggression." He made no mention of the allegations against him in a speech to major American Jewish organizations.
While Netanyahu has not yet been identified as a suspect in the new Bezeq affair, police last week recommended he be charged in two other cases. In the first, police said they found evidence Netanyahu accepted gifts of champagne, cigars and jewelry worth about $286,000 from wealthy friends, including Israeli-born Hollywood mogul Arnon Milchan, who authorities say received financial benefits from the government in return.
In the second case, Netanyahu held discussions with the publisher of the Yediot Ahronoth newspaper to promote legislation weakening another daily in exchange for favorable coverage.
Information for this article was contributed by Jonathan Ferziger and Gwen Ackerman of Bloomberg News and by Ian Deitch of The Associated Press.
A Section on 02/22/2018