Benjamin Netanyahu indicted on corruption charges
Israel’s attorney general indicted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on corruption charges on Thursday, raising more uncertainty over who will next lead a country mired in political chaos.
Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit announced the decision, which was confirmed by the justice ministry. The charges include bribery, breach of trust and fraud.
Mr Netanyahu, who denies wrongdoing in three corruption cases, is under no legal obligation to resign after being charged.
Police recommended in February that Mr Mandelblit file criminal charges against the prime minister in the long-running investigations.
Mr Netanyahu is suspected of wrongfully accepting gifts worth $264,000 (Dh969,540), which prosecutors said included cigars and champagne, from tycoons and of dispensing favours in alleged bids for improved coverage by Israel’s biggest selling newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth, and the Walla website.
The scandals engulfed Mr Netanyahu’s family and his inner circle, with at least three former close confidants testifying against him.
Mr Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, have long been known for their expensive lifestyle and questionable use of public funds. Mrs Netanyahu was convicted of misusing state funds after she reached a plea bargain settling allegations that she spent about $100,000 of state money on lavish meals. She was previously indicted for graft, fraud and breach of trust.
Israel’s longest-serving premier could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted of bribery and a maximum three-year term for fraud and breach of trust. But it could take many months before the cases are brought to court. Mr Netanyahu could also seek a plea deal rather than stand trial.
His allies in the Knesset have said they would push to grant him parliamentary immunity from prosecution. But with Israeli politics in unprecedented turmoil, it is unclear whether such a move is even possible.
Loyalists in Mr Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party have accused the Israeli justice system of bias, and Mr Netanyahu himself has argued that receiving gifts from friends was not against the law.
Israel could be heading for a third election in less than a year as Benny Gantz failed to form a coalition by a Wednesday deadline, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s own unsuccessful effort.
A 21-day period in which Israeli politicians can nominate any of the Knesset’s 120 members to try to establish a coalition has now begun.
If that fails too, an election will be triggered within 90 days, raising the prospect for a weary electorate of going back to the polls after inconclusive votes in April and September.
For Mr Netanyahu, not securing a fifth term as prime minister also has legal implications: Israel’s attorney-general announced on Thursday formal charges for bribery, breach of trust and fraud after long-running police investigations.
Mr Netanyahu denies all wrongdoing, accusing his opponents of running a witch-hunt.
Under Israeli law, a serving prime minister does not have to step down if charged.
Mr Gantz, a former general who heads the Blue and White coalition, has made much of Mr Netanyahu’s legal woes, portraying himself as a unifying centrist figure.
“In the past 28 days, I have left no stone unturned, irrespective of how small, in my attempt to form a government that would bring to the state of Israel leadership with integrity, morality and values,” he said on Wednesday night.
“We have made great efforts towards forming a broad, liberal unity government ... a government that will serve everyone – religious and secular, Jews and Arabs.”
While they are largely aligned on national security, Mr Gantz has signalled more openness than Mr Netanyahu to a resumption of stalled peace talks with the Palestinians.
Mr Netanyahu has tried to cast Mr Gantz as a dovish novice who is not up to the task of running Israel’s economy and state affairs alone.
Mr Netanyahu issued a last-gasp appeal to Mr Gantz to compromise, telling right-wing factions that, even among its closest allies, Israel was “becoming a joke” because of its political turmoil.
“For the sake of Israel’s security, for the sake of the will of the people, for the sake of reconciliation among the people, we indeed need to form a unity government,” he said.
President Reuven Rivlin had proposed a rotation agreement between Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gantz in which the Likud leader would take a leave of absence as prime minister should he be indicted.
One potential kingmaker, Avigdor Lieberman, declined to back either Mr Netanyahu or Mr Gantz as the deadline approached.
Mr Lieberman, who heads the hard-right Yisrael Beiteinu party, said on Wednesday that “both [Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gantz] were guilty” in failing to agree a Likud-Blue and White alliance, for which he had strongly argued.
With no unity government in sight, Mr Lieberman said he would deny both men the support of his party’s eight MPs, effectively meaning that neither Mr Netanyahu nor Mr Gantz would have sufficient backing to get a working majority.
“As things stand now, we are on the way to another election,” Mr Lieberman said. He reiterated his opposition to a Netanyahu-led government that included ultra-religious Jewish parties with influence over life in Israel, and to an administration headed by Mr Gantz that, he said, would be dependent on support from Arab parties he described as a “fifth column”.
Ahmed Tibi, a senior politician from Israel’s 21 per cent Arab minority, tweeted that Mr Lieberman’s rhetoric constituted incitement and “straight-up racism and anti-Semitism”.
Mr Gantz has made much of Mr Netanyahu’s legal woes, portraying himself as a unifying centrist figure