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AG pushes to charge Netanyahu
JERUSALEM — Israel’s attorney general on Thursday recommended criminal charges against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a series of corruption cases, shaking up an already tumultuous election campaign and threatening to end the Israeli leader’s decades-long political career.
The potential charges stretch across an array of scandals that have painted Netanyahu as a hedonistic, and sometimes petty, leader with a taste for expensive gifts and an obsession over his public image. They include allegations he accepted hundreds of
thousands of dollars of champagne and cigars from billionaire friends, and allegedly used his influence to help a wealthy telecom magnate in exchange for favorable coverage on a popular news site.
While a final decision on charges is still months away, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit’s recommendations threatened to hurt Netanyahu’s standing in the heat of a tight re-election battle. Netanyahu faced calls to immediately step aside while he deals with the distraction of trying to clear his name.
Appearing on national TV late Thursday, Netanyahu dismissed the allegations as an “unprecedented witch hunt” by political opponents intent on seeing him lose the April 9 election.
He called the timing of the recommendations “outrageous” and accused prosecutors of caving in to pressure from “the left.”
Appearing emotional at times, he called the case a “blood libel,” said he would debunk all charges and vowed to remain prime minister for many years.
“This house of cards will collapse,” he said as he addressed voters. “Don’t let this witch hunt affect you.”
Mandelblit announced his recommendations after more than two years of intense investigations and deliberations by police, legal experts and financial regulators.
“The attorney general has reached his decision after thoroughly examining the evidence collected during the investigations,” his statement said.
Netanyahu was not formally charged.
Under Israeli law, Netanyahu is entitled to defend himself at a hearing before charges are filed. That process is expected to take many months and be completed long after the election.
Tomer Naor of the Movement for Quality Government, a watchdog group, said the hearing process could take about a year. While charges are not guaranteed, he said most of the cases, particularly the bribery case, appeared to be solid.
The recommendations plunged Israel into uncharted legal waters, marking the first time in its history that a sitting prime minister is so close to facing criminal charges.
While Israeli prime ministers are not required by law to resign if charged, the prospect of a prime minister standing trial while running the country could increase calls to step down.
Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who spent time in prison for corruption, stepped down a decade ago, months before police completed an investigation against him.
As opposition leader, Netanyahu called on Olmert to step down before his indictment, saying he could not devote his full attention to governing.
Netanyahu has a solid base of hard-line, nationalist and religious voters who are likely to rally behind him. For now, Likud officials and his current coalition partners are also supporting him.
But polls have indicated that the upcoming vote, in which Netanyahu is seeking a fourth consecutive term, could be swayed by a small number of voters who abandon him in favor of a new centrist party headed by a popular former military chief, Benny Gantz.
Those voters could well be turned off by Netanyahu’s lengthy rule and neverending scandals.
Gantz, whose campaign has focused heavily on Netanyahu’s character, late Thursday called on Netanyahu to resign to deal with his legal problems.
He said Israel could not afford to have a “part-time prime minister.”
“Let’s imagine our reality when the prime minister needs to divide his time between court and dealing with the critical issues facing the state of Israel,” he said.
“This house of cards will collapse. Don’t let this witch hunt affect you.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu