Lapid accuses PM of attempting coup,
Olmert: Netanyahu will go to prison for many years, needs to undergo treatment
Presumptive opposition leader Yair Lapid accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Monday’s Yesh Atid faction meeting of “attempting a coup,” in his address outside the Jerusalem District Court on Sunday.
Lapid said Netanyahu had threatened his own judges by bringing with him to court the public security minister and representatives of the judicial selection committee.
He said the words of Netanyahu were “incitement” that will lead to violence and could cause a civil war. He said Netanyahu proved with his words that he was unfit to be prime minister.
“The prime minister tried to sell us a story that thousands of people – police officers, investigators, prosecutors, judges, journalists, politicians – are all part of a giant conspiracy to bring him down,” Lapid said. “It is a paranoid delusion. Someone capable of saying those things isn’t fit to be prime minister.”
Lapid also blasted Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz and other Blue and White MKs for not condemning Netanyahu. He said they promised to not permit attacks on the rule of law, but did not keep their promise on Sunday.
“There is an attack on the rule of law – a violent, head-on attack,” Lapid said in words aimed at his former political allies. “What are you planning to do about it? Are there any principles you are willing to fight for?”
In a meeting of the Meretz faction, party leader Nitzan Horowitz warned that “if there is bloodshed caused by the incitement against the legal system, it is Gantz, [Blue and White MK Gabi] Ashkenazi and [Labor leader] Amir Peretz who will be responsible.”
Former prime minister Ehud Olmert issued a scathing attack on his successor Netanyahu in an interview with Army Radio on Monday afternoon.
Olmert said that he is an expert on the “Submarine Affair” because he is the only other prime minister beside Netanyahu to have bought submarines from Germany. He said based on what is already known and not on what is yet unknown, it is already clear that Netanyahu committed “a serious case of fraud.”
“Netanyahu is a criminal, a liar and a cheat who has committed crimes,” Olmert said. “I certainly see him being sent to prison and sitting there for more than a few years.”
Olmert served 16 months in prison for bribery and fraud.
Asked whether he hoped Netanyahu goes to prison, Olmert answered, “I hope he will take his wife and his son and his entire unhinged family and go through treatment so they can become proper humans.”