Netanyahu plea deal reportedly in works
JERUSALEM — The lawyers representing former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu 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.
The details, first reported in Maariv, a centrist Israeli newspaper, 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.
A spokesman for the Justice Ministry confirmed that talks were taking place but declined to confirm any further details. The office of Boaz Ben Tzur, one of Netanyahu’s lead lawyers, declined to comment.
The office of the current prime minister, Naftali Bennett, who leads a right-wing faction, declined to comment. But in a speech Sunday to the Cabinet, Bennett said that the government was continuing to work as normal.
Most analysts believe that if a plea bargain is to happen, it will need to be agreed to by the end of the month. The state official overseeing the case, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, is retiring in early February, and his successor is unlikely to focus on such a divisive issue early on.
Opponents of Netanyahu protested outside Mandelblit’s home Saturday evening, urging him to allow the case to be decided in court.