Bibi indicted - cries "coup" - blames "foreign interests"

[yankeedoodle]

Israel AG indicts Netanyahu on corruption charges, including bribery & fraud
https://www.rt.com/news/474012-israel-ag-indict-netanyahu-corruption/?utm_source=browser&utm_medium=aplication_chrome&utm_campaign=chrome

Israel's Attorney General has indicted PM Benjamin Netanyahu on corruption charges after months of uncertainty over whether Netanyahu would be able to retain his leadership of the country. He is charged with bribery and fraud.

Netanyahu faces charges of breach of trust and fraud stemming from three cases in which he allegedly made illicit deals – either with supporters or with local businesses – in exchange for gifts or cash.

AG Avichai Mandelblit announced the indictment, which has been hanging over Netanyahu for months, in a statement on Thursday.

The most severe case involves charges of altering telecom regulations in favor of telecom company Bezeq, whose owner, Shaul Elovitch, also ran news site Walla News. Flush with a $500 million windfall, Elovitch would allegedly press his editors to make coverage more favorable to the Netanyahus. That case involves a bribery charge on top of breach of trust and fraud, and Elovitch and his wife are also facing bribery charges.

Another case involves the PM receiving lavish gifts from billionaires Arnon Milchan and James Packer, and family members also piling on to demand gifts while Netanyahu allegedly did unspecified favors in return. The third case accuses Netanyahu of volunteering to help the owner of Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper to help suppress rival paper Israel Hayom's circulation.

Mandelblit has been threatening to indict Netanyahu since February, when the police recommended the step after a year-long investigation. The probe was announced in December 2016 – nearly three years ago.

Israeli elections are still up in the air as neither Netanyahu nor his opponent Benny Gantz has been successful in forming a government, and a second election did not improve Netanyahu's fortunes.

Netanyahu has declared the charges to be part of a "witch hunt" orchestrated by left-wing politicians, the media, and prosecutors. He is expected to ask the Knesset for parliamentary immunity, and the official indictment could still take months.

Even then, he is not obligated to resign. However, his trouble forming a coalition government is likely to become more severe.




'Attempted coup': Defiant Netanyahu slams corruption indictment, says probe 'tainted by foreign interests'
https://www.rt.com/news/474024-attempted-coup-defiant-netanyahu-slams/?utm_source=browser&utm_medium=aplication_chrome&utm_campaign=chrome

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu tore into the judicial authorities, calling the bribery indictment against him an "attempted coup" and hinting at the presence of "foreign interests" behind the three-year investigation.

Netanyahu denounced the "tainted procedure," claiming it was the product of "foreign interests" trying to "carry out a legal revolution," after Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit released his indictment on Thursday.

Netanyahu has been charged with bribery, fraud, and abuse of trust in three separate corruption cases.

"We need to investigate the investigators and the state prosecution which cooks these infected cases," Netanyahu warned, hinting that he would not sit quietly while his reputation was being slimed.

"The public has lost trust in the legal system," he declared, again eviscerating the "tainted procedure" – a phrase he repeated, by one journalist's count, five times in his lengthy self-defense speech.

Mandelblit slammed the PM for attempting to "delegitimize the people who were involved" in the investigations. The decision to indict, he said, was made "with a heavy heart, but wholeheartedly." Police began investigating Netanyahu on the current charges three years ago, and Mandelblit has been weighing whether to indict since February.

State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan has reportedly said that Netanyahu cannot hold the mandate to form a government with criminal charges pending against him – though Nitzan has yet to make the statement publicly. Israeli law does not require a PM to resign upon indictment, but with no government yet formed, two months after a second election failed to produce a clear victor, the Israeli leader's future is uncertain.

Netanyahu is the first sitting Israeli PM to be indicted on criminal charges, and several Knesset members have already called on him to step down. His rival Benny Gantz's Blue and White Party pointedly posted a clip of Netanyahu himself from 11 years ago, declaring "A prime minister neck deep in investigations does not have a moral and public mandate to make fateful decisions for the state of Israel."