Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday slammed the so-called “Deep State” in a post on his official “prime minister” X account, harnessing some of the same rhetoric used by US President Donald Trump to dismiss his critics.

“In America and in Israel, when a strong right-wing leader wins an election, the leftist Deep State weaponizes the justice system to thwart the people’s will. They won’t win in either place! We stand strong together,” Netanyahu posted in English from his official account.

Less than a half hour after the tweet was posted, Netanyahu deleted it from his official account and posted the same message from his personal account.

The statement came shortly after police announced Wednesday that they detained and questioned under caution two suspects as part of an ongoing investigation into whether thousands of dollars were funneled from Qatar to one or more of Netanyahu’s aides. Hebrew media reported early Thursday morning that one of the suspects was released home under unspecified conditions, while the second continued to be interrogated.

Earlier this week, the Axios news site quoted aides to the prime minister saying that Netanyahu decided to move ahead with his planned firing of Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar in early February, after leaving his trip to Washington inspired by the moves Trump took “against the deep state” and his appointment of loyalists to key posts.

The plans to fire Bar as well as Attorney General Gali-Baharav-Miara, coupled with the government’s effort to renew highly controversial legislation to increase political power over the judiciary, and the resumption of airstrikes in Gaza — leaving the fate of hostages held by Hamas uncertain — sparked major anti-government........

© The Times of Israel