BENJAMIN NETANYAHU IN HIS JERUSALEM OFFICE, 1997-01-26 (photo)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu puts on a smile in his office prior to a meeting with the visiting Belgian Foreign Minister, January 26. Israeli justice officials ordered police to probe allegations of high-level corruption which politicians have said could bring down Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government. State-owned Channel One television alleged that lawyer Roni Bar-On was tipped to be attorney general after promising to arrange a plea bargain for Shas party leader Aryeh Deri, himself on trial for unrelated corruption charges. Bar-On resigned within 12 hours of taking office under public criticism he was unfit for the job. The television said that Deri, after getting Bar-On's promise of a plea bargain, that would save his political career, conditioned his party's support for the Hebron deal with the PLO on Bar-On being appointed attorney general. Prime Minister Netanyahu has welcomed the investigation. MIDEAST ISRAEL PROBE