LAWYERS IN TALKS FOR NETANYAHU PLEA BARGAIN

Lawyers representing Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli former prime minister, are in negotiations with state prosecutors to reach a plea bargain in his long-running corruption case, according to a spokesman for the Israeli Justice Ministry and two people involved in the negotiations.

The talks are expected to finish by the end of the month and, if successful, would help conclude a legal process that contributed to years of political instability in Israel and, ultimately, to the end in June of Netanyahu’s record tenure as prime minister.

The proposed bargain includes Netanyahu admitting to some of the charges, all of which he still formally denies in court, in exchange for the prosecution downgrading the seriousness of one charge, dropping another entirely and allowing Netanyahu to avoid serving a jail sentence by instead performing community service, the two negotiators said.

The talks are currently stuck, however, because Netanyahu does not want to accept the charge of “moral turpitude,” a designation that would bar Netanyahu, leader of Israel’s biggest right-wing party, from public office for seven years, the negotiators said.

Details were confirmed to The New York Times by one of the main mediators, Aharon Barak, a former president of the Israeli Supreme Court, and a second person involved in the negotiations who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the negotiations openly.

The talks are the latest twist in a legal process that began in 2016 with a police inquiry into claims that Netanyahu had accepted gifts from benefactors in exchange for political favors.