LOW RATINGS FOR ISRAELI PM’S DAMP SQUIB TV APPEARANCE
▶ Netanyahu’s national address was touted as a ‘dramatic announcement’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s televised address on Monday to call for a live head-to-head with his corruption accusers has been widely criticised.
He kept Israelis waiting for three hours with the promise of a “dramatic announcement”, but used his big reveal to contest corruption claims that threaten to end his tenure before the end of the year, when he would become Israel’s longest serving prime minister.
Early elections have been called for April 9 and Israel’s attorney general is reportedly considering an indictment for Mr Netanyahu before the country votes.
Mr Netanyahu said he had demanded that Israeli police allow him to confront former allies who have switched sides and given evidence against him in several corruption cases that have dogged him for the past year.
“Tonight I reveal to you that during the investigations against me, I demanded a confrontation with the state witnesses,” he said.
He complained about those requests being rejected.
“What are they afraid of? I’m not afraid. I have nothing to lose,” the Israeli leader said.
“I’m willing for it to be livestreamed for the public to hear the full truth. I’m confident in my truth.”
He described the investigation against him as biased.
Mr Netanyahu also claimed that key witnesses who could refute the allegations against him were not called.
But the speech was widely derided, with an Israeli broadcaster shutting off his speech halfway through, and Israelis lambasting his use of a primetime platform to try to swing public opinion on the corruption allegations against him.
Many had waited expecting a major security or diplomatic announcement.
The chief correspondent for Israel’s Channel 10 called the speech “chutzpah”, while left-leaning newspaper Haaretz said Mr Netanyahu should be banned from television before the election, calling the address a “disaster for truth, statesmanship and proper governance”.
Israeli police have recommended charges in three corruption cases against Mr Netanyahu.
Police allege that he granted regulatory favours to Israel’s leading telecoms company, Bezeq Telecom Israel, in return for more positive coverage on a news website belonging to the company’s owner.
In a second case, police contend that Mr Netanyahu received expensive gifts from wealthy friends.
A third investigation focuses on suspicions that he negotiated a deal with a newspaper for better coverage in return for promises to back legislation that would have limited the circulation of a rival.
He called an early vote in an apparent attempt to avoid an indictment before he can win a popular mandate from the Israeli electorate.
That move may yet backfire because Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit considers an early indictment to be in the best interests of the Israeli public.
Mr Netanyahu said he would not resign in the event an indictment was issued against him.
Should he decide on an indictment, the attorney general would, according to Israeli law, hold a hearing with Mr Netanyahu in which the prime minister and his lawyers could make their case against filing charges in court.
There has been mounting speculation that an indictment decision will be announced in the next few weeks, before election day.
Israel’s Justice Ministry said all of the work carried out in the cases relating to Mr Netanyahu was done “professionally and thoroughly”.