Prime minister’s wife admits to lesser charge in plea bargain and pays £12,000 fine

Sara Netanyahu, the wife of Israel’s prime minister, has been convicted of illegally misusing thousands of pounds of public funds on lavish meals.

A Jerusalem court on Sunday accepted a plea bargain in which Netanyahu agreed to admit to a lesser charge than the original fraud accusations. She will pay about $15,000 (£12,000) in fines and reimbursements to the state.

Israeli PM’s wife to pay $15,000 to close case accusing her of running up large bills at luxury restaurants

Sara Netanyahu, wife of the Israeli prime minister, has agreed a plea bargain to settle allegations that she overspent some $100,000 (£79,000) of state money on lavish meals, prosecutors said.

She will pay around $15,000 in fines to quietly close the case, which accused her of running up large tabs at luxury restaurants for friends and family while the official prime minister’s residence employed a full-time chef.

After a row over military service ended Netanyahu’s efforts to form a government, Israelis speak of the resentments behind the crisis

It’s Thursday night at the Mahane Yehuda market in west Jerusalem, where the music is thumping and the drinks are flowing. When a bottle breaks, the crowds erupt with a chorus of “mazel tov”, or congratulations.

But as some ultra-Orthodox Jewish men in traditional black suits, side locks, and thick skullcaps pass by, Ad Shamsi’s face sours. “What do they have to do here?” asks the 56-year-old Jewish Israeli, who is kicking off the weekend at an outside bar.

Avigdor Lieberman was Netanyahu’s loyal lieutenant – but now he has left the PM exposed to the electorate and the courts

Israeli politics is in meltdown as the country heads towards its second election within six months. The ramifications of such turmoil for the country and the region are huge – but none of this needed to happen. That it has is down to the frantic efforts of Benjamin Netanyahu to stave off three looming corruption charges.

The Israeli prime minister’s desire to avoid a criminal trial is why he called an otherwise unnecessary April election in the first place. And it is why, when he failed to assemble a rightwing coalition by Wednesday’s midnight deadline, the man soon to become Israel’s longest-serving prime minister persuaded his malleable Likud parliamentarians to back a bill to dissolve the Knesset – instead of allowing president Reuven Rivlin to entrust another candidate with the task of trying to form a government.

Knesset votes to dissolve parliament after Benjamin Netanyahu fails to form new government

Israel’s parliament has voted to dissolve itself after Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a government, in a move that will lead to a second round of elections just one month after the country held a national poll.

At a suspenseful gathering that ended weeks of unsuccessful bartering and brinkmanship, the Knesset voted to disperse and call new elections, set for 17 September.