Netanyahu’s govt stable ... for now
JERUSALEM: Key coalition partners said they would stick with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for now, pending a decision by the attorney-general whether to indict him for bribery as recommended by police.
A decision could take months and Mr Netanyahu’s government appeared stable for the time being.
The right-wing premier has strongly denied the police allegations, calling them “full of holes, like Swiss cheese”.
“I want to reassure you, the coalition is stable,” he told a conference in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, the day after police made their recommendations public.
“No one — not I, not anyone else — has any plans to go to an election.
“We will continue to work with you for the good of Israel’s citizens until the end of the term.”
Polls published on Israel’s three main television channels showed that more people believed the police’s version of events than Netanyahu‘s.
But they also said that if elections were to be held today, his right-wing Likud party would remain the largest party in parliament.
Police on Tuesday said they had found sufficient evidence for the 68-year-old Mr Netanyahu to be charged with bribery in two separate cases, presenting him with one of the biggest challenges to his long dominance of Israeli politics.
It is now up to Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit, a former military advocate general and ex-cabinet secretary who was appointed to the country’s top legal post by Netanyahu, to decide whether to file criminal charges.
A public debate has long been under way in Israel on whether Mr Mandelblit, who has avoided interviews, might be reluctant to prosecute a sitting prime minister for the first time in Israeli history, especially one who promoted him through government ranks.
Mr Netanyahu has denied wrongdoing in both cases filed by police.
Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who heads the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party, said that as long as Mr Netanyahu was not convicted he should stay in office.
“Truly, right now we are operating in a very synchronised way,” he said.
Education Minister Naftali Bennett, who heads the far-right Jewish Home party, said: “I have decided to wait until the decision of the attorney-general ... Regarding the moral aspect, the public will decide on voting day.”
Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, who heads the centrist Kulanu party, said he would do the same.
Avraham Diskin, a political science professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said none of Mr Netanyahu’s coalition partners had any incentive to rock the boat.
“We don’t see for the time being any sign of defectors from the coalition. Maybe individuals will defect,” Mr Diskin said.
“I don’t see any kind of collapse in the foreseeable future.”
Mr Netanyahu draws political strength in part from his close ties with US President Donald Trump, who in December reversed decades of US policy by recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
The move was hailed by Israelis, although Palestinians — who claim East Jerusalem for the capital of a future state — and leaders across the Middle East were dismayed.