Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu (Likud) responded Thursday evening to the Attorney-General Aviḥai Mandelblit’s decision to indict him for fraud, bribery and breach of trust.
“I respect the Israeli judicial authorities very much,” said Netanyahu. “But one has to be blind to not see that something not good is happening with the police and the prosecutor’s office.”
“Today we see an attempt to make a government coup against the prime minister with false allegations and in the process of tainted and biased investigations.”
Mandelblit announced Thursday that he has decided to indict Netanyahu for fraud, bribery and breach of trust in Case 4000, and fraud and breach of trust in Cases 1000 and 2000.
The decision was made after a four-day hearing on the prime minister’s cases last month and after three weeks of marathon hearings in the Attorney-General’s office.
It also took place right when the prime minister was most politically vulnerable after failing to form a government for the second time in one year.
President Reuven Rivlin handed the mandate to form a government to the Knesset earlier on Thursday, criticizing both Netanyahu and Blue & White leader Benny Gantz for failing to form a government following two national election cycles.
Gantz conceded Wednesday night that he was unable to put together a coalition in the allotted time. If a 61 member majority of the Knesset doesn’t agree on a candidate for prime minister to form a new government in 21 days, the nation will head to its third election in one year.
“The Attorney-General published the final indictment in a rushed fashion at this most sensitive time,” said Netanyahu Thursday night. “The initial indictment was also published during an election.”
“The timing of this decision throws the legal process against me into question.”
Netanyahu’s claims that the timing of Mandelblit’s announcement seems too perfect to be coincidence make sense. But if this is indeed a coup d’état, it goes way beyond Mandelblit.
The political crises of the past year, including the destabilization of Netanyahu’s coalition and the failed attempts to form new governments after two election cycles, were all the work of one man – Yisrael Beiteinu leader Avigdor Lieberman.
What most analysts have missed during the tumultuous last year is that Lieberman has been acting on behalf of United States President Donald Trump.
In November 2016, following Trump’s electoral victory, Lieberman had already offered himself to the new US administration by announcing support for a Jewish construction freeze in most of the West Bank.
In April 2018, the Yisrael Beiteinu leader traveled to Washington and returned with a test balloon for Trump’s “Deal of the Century” to divide Israel into two separate states. Lieberman, who was serving as defense minister in Netanyahu’s government at the time, expressed support for the plan and called on the Israeli public to give it a chance.
“There is no free lunch,” Lieberman told Channel 2, following reports that he was told that Israel would be forced to relinquish control over parts of Jerusalem within the context of a two-state framework. At this point it should have been clear that Lieberman had been recruited by the Trump administration to foster support for the plan.
It’s likely that Trump initially tasked Lieberman with ensuring a Netanyahu-Gantz coalition that would accept his two-state plan and survive its implementation. But with Netanyahu’s refusal to abandon coalition partners that could never agree to any territorial compromise, it must have become increasingly obvious that the prime minister wouldn’t accept the country’s division.
Upon realizing that Netanyahu was actually seeking to thwart his plan, Trump likely came to the same conclusion as two of his predecessors. Former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama had been similarly angered by Netanyahu’s slippery resistance. Both hatched schemes to remove the prime minister from office, with Clinton succeeding in 1999 and Obama failing in 2015.
At this moment it appears Trump has succeeded where Obama failed but Netanyahu shouldn’t be counted out for the count yet. An old hand at outfoxing the Americans, the prime minister is one of Israel’s most formidable political operatives and may yet find a way to remain in his position until his trial. If the charges against him are as bogus and politically motivated as he claims, all he has to do is weather the current storm.
