Jerusalem, 2 June, 2026 (TPS-IL) — The Israel Police Tuesday morning arrested 18 suspects, including a Deputy Mayor in the north of the country, on suspicion of public corruption offenses including bribery, fraud, rigging tenders, money laundering, and tax offenses.
The police also seized luxury vehicles, a yacht, and real estate assets worth millions of shekels.
The arrests came when various security and police units, in cooperation with the Tax Authority, raided approximately 20 targets in the north this morning.
The raids came after a covert investigation that was conducted for over a year.
The investigation findings, said the police, raise suspicion of a “systematic and ongoing infiltration by criminal elements into the city’s decision-making systems, through the creation of improper ties with senior officials.”
According to the suspicion, these ties led to criminal elements taking control of key power centers, primarily the tenders committee and the planning and building committee.
In addition, suspicion arose that criminals joined forces with contractors in the northern region and senior municipal employees and acted together, as a well-oiled mechanism, to advance their interests, among other things, by rigging tenders through bribery and favors.
In this way, criminal elements took control of the city’s operations, while pocketing millions of shekels, and at the same time, senior municipal officials exploited their public positions to receive bribes and favors.