JERUSALEM (AP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned to court on Monday for his corruption trial, as the country’s political parties will consider whether to form the next government after a tightly divided election or resign to focus on its legal troubles. .
Between the testimony of witnesses in a courtroom in Jerusalem and the consultations in the president’s office, he promised that it would be a day of extraordinary political drama, bringing to the fore Netanyahu’s increasingly desperate efforts to stay in power.
He is Israel’s longest-serving prime minister and has clung to power in four difficult elections in less than two years, even though he has been charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust. The March 23 elections were largely a referendum on his leadership, but did not produce a clear verdict.
Meanwhile, Israeli political parties have begun meeting with President Reuven Rivlin to recommend the candidate who should be tasked with forming the next government.
After each election, the President of Israel is responsible for appointing a party leader to try to gather a government majority. This decision is usually clear, but Rivlin faces a difficult choice, given the fragmented election results that left the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, divided between 13 parties with large ideological differences.
Neither Netanyahu’s allies nor his enemies obtained a government majority. So his fate could reach Naftali Bennett, a former right-wing ally with whom he forged ties, and Mansour Abbas, the leader of a small Arab Islamist party who also pledged neither pro-anti-anti-anti -Netanyahu. buildings.
Later Monday, Bennett recommended himself as the next prime minister, deepening Israel’s political stalemate. His right-wing party Yamina had been in a position to serve as king, but refused to take part.
Yamina has only seven seats in parliament, which makes it possible to form a governing coalition. Bennett hopes to be able to become a consensual candidate to end the profound differences between rival factions.
Rivlin was previously quoted by the Israeli press as saying that he did not see how a ruling coalition could be formed and expressed concern that Israel would enter a fifth round of elections.
At the Jerusalem District Court, Netanyahu sat with his lawyers, while Chief Prosecutor Liat Ben-Ari read out the charges against him.
“The relationship between Netanyahu and the defendants has become currency, something that could be changed,” she said. “The currency could distort the judgment of a civil servant.”
Netanyahu’s lawyers tried to dismiss him, but were interrupted by Judge Rivka Friedman-Feldman, who said they had already responded to the allegations earlier in the trial. The judge then ordered a short break, during which Netanyahu left the court.
Outside the courtroom, dozens of supporters and opponents of the prime minister gathered to protest on opposite sides of the building, amid heavy police presence, highlighting Israel’s deep divisions. Anti-Netanyahu protesters have been holding weekly demonstrations for months, demanding that he resign.
Just a few miles away, a delegation from Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party officially recommended him as prime minister in a meeting with Rivlin.
Netanyahu is accused of accepting bribery, fraud and breach of trust in three cases.
The first assumes that Netanyahu received hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of gifts from wealthy friends, including Hollywood filmmaker Arnon Milchan and Australian billionaire James Packer. In the second case, Netanyahu is accused of trying to orchestrate positive coverage in a major Israeli newspaper in exchange for reducing the distribution of a free pro-Netanyahu tabloid.
The third case, called Case 4000, which will be at the heart of witnesses’ first testimony, claims that Netanyahu supported the hundreds of millions of dollars worth of legislation to the owner of the Israeli telecommunications giant Bezeq in exchange for positive coverage on his news site. Walla.
Netanyahu denied any wrongdoing, dismissing the allegations against him as part of a “witch hunt” by the media and law enforcement to dismiss him. His trial began last year and could take another two years.
In January, prosecutors claimed 315 cases Walla was asked to change his cover so that it was more favorable to Netanyahu and his family. They said 150 of them involved Netanyahu himself.
According to the allegations, Shaul Elovitch, CEO of Bezeq, “exerted heavy and continuous pressure” on Ilan Yeshua, the former editor-in-chief of Walla, to change the articles on the site to meet the demands of Netanyahu and his family.
Yeshua, who took over after Netanyahu’s departure, said he regularly received requests from Elovitch and aides to the prime minister, urging him to oust the prime minister’s political opponents, including Bennett. He then forwarded the requests to the top publishers of the site.
Bennett was called “naughty religious” in internal messages, Yeshua said.
Israeli law does not require prime ministers to resign while indicted, and Netanyahu has refused to do so. This left the country deeply divided. An emergency unit government formed last year to tackle the coronavirus crisis has been defeated by political quarrels and collapsed in less than a year due to its inability to approve a budget.
Netanyahu defeated Israel’s founding father David Ben Gurion in 2019 as the country’s longest-serving prime minister, holding the position continuously since 2009 and for several years in the 1990s.
___
Associated Press writer Joseph Krauss of Jerusalem contributed to this report.