Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that he would ask parliament to grant him immunity from prosecution. Netanyahu is the culprit in three fraud cases.
Netanyahu announced that step during a television speech. With this politically risky move, he may be able to delay legal proceedings against him by months.
The trial against Netanyahu will in any case not start until Parliament has given its opinion, and possibly only after the national elections that are to be held on 2 March. Given the great division in parliament, the latter is a realistic possibility.
To get parliamentary immunity, Netanyahu needs the support of 61 of the 120 parliamentarians in the Israeli Knesset. During his attempts to form a coalition government after elections in April and September last year, Netanyahu did not receive majority support.
If the prime minister manages to be granted parliamentary immunity, the Israeli Supreme Court can still examine that decision and possibly reverse it.
Premier is accused of bribery and fraud
Netanyahu was charged last November. He is accused of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. According to prosecutors, he granted hundreds of millions of euros in state aid to Israeli media headers in exchange for expensive gifts and favorable coverage.
The Israeli prime minister denies all guilt. He claims to be the victim of politically motivated persecution and therefore thinks he is entitled to parliamentary protection.
“In a democracy, only the people who will be led will decide,” said Netanyahu on Wednesday. He has been in power in Israel for a decade and compares the actions of Israeli prosecutors with a coup d’etat.
Rivals: “Netanyahu endangers the rule of law”
What makes Netanyahu’s request politically risky is that it helps his rivals to portray him as an autocratic leader who sets himself above the law and poses a threat to the Israeli rule of law.
According to Netanyahu’s main rival, Benny Gantz, the former army chief who heads the Blue and White centrist party, the prime minister is teasing “the principle of citizenship that we have all learned – that everyone is equal before the law”.
Recent opinion polls say that neither Blue and White nor the Netudahu Likud Party is on track to form a coalition government after the two-month election.
Premier just met the deadline
The prime minister was on time with his immunity request. The deadline for such a move expired on Wednesday afternoon. If Netanyahu had not submitted his request, the prosecutors could have filed the charges against him at the court from next Sunday and the criminal mill had started to run.
Under Israeli law, a politician can make a request for parliamentary immunity for many reasons. One of the possible reasons is bias with the Israeli Public Prosecution Service.
– .
