Khaled Yousef
17 June 2026•Update: 17 June 2026
Israeli police have gathered sufficient evidence to indict Energy Minister Eli Cohen on “breach of trust” following an investigation into accusations of issuing diplomatic passports unlawfully, the Haaretz newspaper reported on Wednesday.
According to the paper, Cohen, a former foreign minister, ordered the issuance of diplomatic passports in December 2023 to influential members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party who were in a position to affect his ranking on the party's slate in a future Knesset election.
Cohen also ordered the issuance of a diplomatic passport to Netanyahu's son, Yair, despite "his failure to meet the required criteria."
Haaretz said police have submitted to the public prosecutor the results of a nine-month investigation into Cohen and other senior officials.
“The investigation concluded that there are suspicions of breach of trust, specifically the granting of diplomatic passports to these individuals in exchange for illicit benefits,” the report said.
The newspaper said police interrogated dozens of people in the case and confiscated numerous documents before submitting the investigation's findings to the public prosecutor.
There was no immediate comment from Cohen, the police or the public prosecutor's office on the report.
Netanyahu himself is facing charges of corruption, bribery, and breach of trust in three cases known as Cases 1000, 2000, and 4000, with indictments filed in late November 2019.
Since the start of his trial in 2020, he has refused to admit guilt, describing the accusations as a “political campaign aimed at overthrowing him.”
*Writing by Rasa Evrensel in Istanbul
