Bibi withdraws plan to seek immunity
V BINYAMIN NETANYAHU was still asleep on Tuesday in Washington, when a messenger from the Israeli attorney-general’s office made the short journey down the road from the Justice Ministry in Jerusalem to the District Court to file a the chargesheet which makes him the first serving Israeli prime minister to be indicted in court.
The charges include one count of bribery and three of fraud and breach of trust. Alongside Mr Netanyahu are three additional defendants — Shaul Elovich, the former owner of Bezeq telecom corporation, who is accused of having bribed the prime minister, his wife Iris, and Arnon Mozes, publisher and main shareholder of the Yedioth Ahronot media group who is accused of having conspired to bribe Mr Netanyahu.
The filing of the indictments became possible when Mr Netanyahu’s lawyers notified Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein that he had decided to withdraw the request for parliamentary immunity that he made four weeks earlier.
His intention had been to delay the process by months and have only the newly-elected Knesset, after the March 2 election, debate his request. But the opposition united to hold the immunity hearings immediately and have the Knesset meet for a few hours to empanel the committee which would do so. In withdrawing his request, Mr Netanyahu said he was protesting over the “unfair process” (which he had initiated) and “not letting my political rivals to disturb the historic move I’m leading,” referring to the Trump peace plan. Mr Netanyahu knew he would lose the immunity vote and was anxious the proceedings would overshadow the election campaign. By withdrawing the request he hopes that the media will now focus on the Trump plan. Since he is unlikely to have to attend court before the election, he believes he can now dominate the news agenda. Theoretically his trial could begin immediately but that is unlikely as the District Court president must first select the three judges who will try the case and then the defendants lawyers’ are likely to file motions to delay the hearings so they can receive and study additional evidence from the prosecution.