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Netanyahu withdraws immunity from prosecution request Netanyahu indicted in court after removing immunity request
(about 4 hours later)
Israel PM makes move hours before Knesset proceedings on subject are set to begin Israeli prime minister to face trial on charges including bribery and breach of trust
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has withdrawn his request for immunity from prosecution hours before parliamentary proceedings on the subject were set to begin. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has been formally indicted in court on corruption charges after he withdrew his request for parliamentary immunity from prosecution.
Netanyahu, who was visiting Washington before the launch of Donald Trump’s long-anticipated peace plan on Tuesday, said he decided “not to let this dirty game continue” in a statement issued on his official Facebook page. Netanyahu was in Washington for meetings with the US president, Donald Trump, ahead of the release of the long-delayed Israeli-Palestinian peace plan when Israel’s attorney general filed the charges in a Jerusalem court.
Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, was set to convene to discuss the formation of a committee to debate the prime minister’s immunity request. It is still expected to meet even after the withdrawal. The immunity bid seemed doomed to fail from the beginning since Netanyahu, who denies any wrongdoing, lacked sufficient votes in the legislature for approval.
The Knesset had been widely expected to reject Netanyahu’s immunity request, which would have dealt a blow to the prime minister before the 2 March parliamentary elections – the third in less than a year. Netanyahu’s Likud party was planning to boycott Tuesday’s Knesset session. The request for protection from prosecution had effectively blocked the filing of the indictment until now.
Netanyahu’s retraction paves the way for legal proceedings against him to go forward. He was indicted on counts of fraud, breach of trust and bribery in November in three separate cases. He has denied any wrongdoing. As proceedings move toward trial, the timeline remains unclear and it could take months or years.
“In this fateful hour for the people of Israel, when I am in the United States on a historic mission to design the permanent borders of Israel and ensure our security for decades to come, the Knesset is expected to start another spectacle in the circus of removing immunity,” Netanyahu wrote. In addition to his legal battle, Netanyahu is fighting for his political life in an election on 2 March, Israel’s third in less than a year after inconclusive ballots in April and September.
Trump, himself under the cloud of his impeachment trial in the Senate, appears poised to offer Netanyahu some needed help in the form of the most generous American peace proposal ever. The prime minister has sought to portray himself as a global statesman uniquely qualified to lead Israel through difficult times. He has tried to use his close friendship with Trump as a strategic asset to stay in power. Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, said in a statement that an immunity debate in parliament would have been a “circus” and that he did not want to take part in this “dirty game”.
Netanyahu’s chief political opponent, Benny Gantz, who leads the Blue and White party, said in a statement that Netanyahu “is going to trial – we must go forward”. With public attention in Israel focused on events in Washington, Netanyahu’s White House meetings seemed likely to overshadow his latest legal woes.
Nobody could run a country and simultaneously manage three serious criminal charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, Gantz added. The veteran right-winger is under no legal obligation to resign.
Netanyahu and Gantz are set to face off in a third round of national elections after two inconclusive elections in 2019. Netanyahu’s main rival, the centrist former general Benny Gantz, made the prime minister’s legal troubles a centrepiece of his campaigns in two Israeli elections last year.
Ayman Odeh, leader of the Joint List of Arab parties in the Israeli parliament, said “the path to trial is paved and no diplomatic public relations stunt in the world” would prevent Netanyahu from being brought to justice. Gantz made a brief trip to Washington to discuss the peace plan with Trump, and had rushed back to Israel expecting to lead the parliament debate against granting Netanyahu immunity.
Netanyahu and Trump were scheduled to meet later on Tuesday at the White House for the peace plan’s announcement. “Netanyahu is going to trial – we have to move on,” Gantz said after Netanyahu pulled his immunity request.
“The citizens of Israel have a clear choice: a prime minister who works for them or a prime minister busy with himself. No one can manage the country and in parallel manage three serious criminal cases,” Gantz said in a tweet.
The corruption charges marked the first criminal indictment against a serving Israeli prime minister. The charge sheet was first published by Israel’s attorney general in November following a long-running investigation. The charges included bribery, breach of trust and fraud.
Netanyahu is suspected of wrongfully accepting $264,000 worth of gifts, which prosecutors said included cigars and champagne, from tycoons and of dispensing regulatory favours in alleged bids for improved coverage by a popular news website.
Netanyahu could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted of bribery and a maximum three-year term for fraud and breach of trust.