Netanyahu seeks immunity from corruption charges

JERUSALEM — Fighting for his future, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Wednesday said he is asking parliament to grant him immunity from prosecution in three graft cases, a rare and contentious step that critics said violated the principle of equality before the law.

The immunity request is the latest twist in the political and legal drama that has paralyzed the Israeli government for nearly a year. It could delay for months the cases against Netanyahu, who faces a general election in two months. And if it is approved, immunity could keep him out of court for as long as he remains a member of parliament.

Netanyahu was indicted in November on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. He has denied any wrongdoing.

He had kept the country guessing about his next move, apparently wary that an immunity request could endanger his reelection prospects and that of his conservative Likud party by fueling accusations of putting himself above the law.

Netanyahu played down the effect of his immunity request. Delivering a prime-time televised statement, he insisted it was a “temporary” measure that would be valid for only one term of parliament.

He said immunity was meant to prevent “political indictments whose purpose is to impair the will of the people.”

Netanyahu, Israel’s

Netanyahu longest-serving prime minister, is running for a fourth consecutive term in the election set for March 2. The election will be Israel’s third in a year. The campaign, largely focused on Netanyahu’s fate, already was expected to be divisive, and the immunity request may deepen national fissures over values and the nature of Israeli democracy.

Two earlier elections, in April and September, ended inconclusively, with neither Netanyahu nor his chief opponent, Benny Gantz of the centrist Blue and White party, able to muster the majority needed to form a viable government.

“I never imagined we would see the day when a prime minister of Israel would avoid standing before the law and the courts,” Gantz said Wednesday.