Today, Israel's Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit announced that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will face trial on three counts of fraud and breach of trust and one count of bribery. The charges come in the midst of Israel's general election which is to take place on April 9th.
Netanyahu, who has been Israel's Prime Minister since 2009, has yet to make a formal response to the charges, but the Likud Party taking a Trumpian approach to the matter accusing "the media and the left" of pressuring Mandelblit to filing the charges and characterizing the charges as a "witch hunt". Bibi does have the option of requesting a hearing to contest the indictments. This could delay any criminal proceedings against Netanyahu by up to a year.
With or without the indictments, Netanyahu was facing a tough re-election against the newly formed centrist coalition by former IDF Chief Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid, who once served as Minister of Finance under Netanyahu. This might accelerate the momentum against Netanyahu. That is unless this story of sexual misconduct against Gantz stops it dead in its tracks and Gantz's lawsuit against his accuser raises the ire of the #MeToo movement.
In many respects this shows Israel is no different than any other country. Politicians engage in corruption and inappropriate behavior. Let's not forget that Netanyahu's predecessor Ehud Olmert resigned his office and was later charged, convicted and imprisoned for bribery. But because it is Israel there will be a level of anger directed at Netanyahu that would not be directed at him if he wasn't Jewish and wasn't leading the world's only Jewish state. Of course, when it comes to anti-Semites, it doesn't matter who leads Israel. The very existence of Israel is an affront to anti-Semites and the tandem of Gantz and Lapid won't mollify their hatred one bit.
I'm not sure how I would vote if I were living in Israel. But Israelis are perfectly capable of rendering a decision. They've been doing it for seven decades and much of the world hates them for it. The indictment of Netanyahu is most lamentable and unfortunate, but Israel will carry on.
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