Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Premier of Israel indicted in fraud
Netanyahu calls cases a coup try
JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was indicted Thursday on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust in a set of long-running corruption cases, throwing his political future into doubt and heightening the uncertainty surrounding Israel’s yearlong struggle to choose its next leader.
Netanyahu, 70, who in July became the longest-serving prime minister in Israel’s history, now also has the distinction of being the first to be indicted while in office.
The cases against Netanyahu involve allegations of giving or offering lucrative official favors to several media tycoons in exchange for favorable news coverage or gifts worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The indictment threatened to open a dangerous new challenge to Israel’s democracy, as the nation’s top prosecutor and its premier accused each another of subverting the rule of law.
“The public interest requires that we live in a
country where no one is above the law,” Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit said in a televised evening news conference.
In a speech an hour later, Netanyahu insisted that the case against him was built on lies and political animus. He declared that it was the police and prosecutors who should be called to account, urging Israel’s citizens to “investigate the investigators.”
He told Israelis that they were “witnessing an attempted coup.”
“I will not allow lies to prevail,” he vowed. “I will continue to lead this country.”
Several dozen supporters and opponents of Netanyahu staged rival demonstrations outside the prime minister’s official residence Thursday night. Police kept the groups apart, and there were no reports of violence.
Netanyahu is not legally required to step down. But with Israel’s political system already in uncharted territory, having failed to settle upon a new prime minister despite two elections and three attempts at forming a government since April, the criminal case against him could make it far more difficult for him to retain power.
After his chief rival, Benny
Gantz of the centrist Blue and White party, failed to form a government by the Wednesday deadline, that task shifted to Parliament. If no lawmaker is successful in assembling a 61-seat majority over the next three weeks, a third round of elections will be called.