THE scandal threatening to bring down the Israeli Government and shatter the career of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began with a short report on a state television channel three months ago.
Reporter Ayala Hasson, citing unnamed sources, claimed the aborted appointment by Mr Netanyahu two weeks before of a little-known Jerusalem lawyer, Ronnie Bar-On, as attorney-general was even more controversial than it had seemed at the time.
Mr Bar-On, an activist in Mr Netanyahu's Likud Party, had been named to the top legal position in the country despite the fact that he was undistinguished as a lawyer and had a practice devoted mainly to defending small-time criminals.
The uproar following the appointment, including protests from within Mr Netanyahu's Cabinet, induced Mr Bar-On to resign two days later.
The affair seemed little more than another minor scandal for Mr Netanyahu, whose poor political judgment has been repeatedly displayed since assuming office in June.
However, the report by Hasson cast a sinister new light on the episode. Hasson indicated that Mr Bar-On's appointment had not been simply a case of cronyism but a conspiracy aimed at thwarting the law.
The central figure in this alleged conspiracy was Arye Deri, a former interior minister and head of the religious Shas party, an important component of Mr Netanyahu's seven-party coalition Government.
