Netanyahu charged in corruption cases

JERUSALEM >> Israel’s attorney general on Thursday formally charged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a series of corruption cases, throwing the country’s paralyzed political system into further disarray and threatening his 10-year grip on power. Netanyahu angrily accused prosecutors of staging “an attempted coup.”

Capping a three-year investigation, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit charged Netanyahu with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three different scandals. It is the first time a sitting Israeli prime minister has been charged with a crime.

An ashen-faced Netanyahu appeared on national TV, claiming he was the victim of a grand conspiracy by police and prosecutors.

He defiantly claimed the indictment stemmed from “false accusations” and a systematically “tainted investigation,” saying the country was witnessing an “attempted coup” against him.