A Prime Minister tried for corruption while he is still in office and less than a month and a half from legislative elections! It is a rarity that democracy offers and Israel. Benjamin Netanyahu briefly appeared on Monday February 8, 2021, alongside industrialists and media bosses, who, like him, plead not guilty. Bibi
faces up to ten years in prison, after a trial that is expected to last for months.
Three cases including € 177,000 of luxury gifts
In two cases, he is accused of attempting to cash in on favorable media coverage in exchange for government favors for their owners. In the third case, Netanyahu, his wife and his son are suspected of having received € 177,000 in luxury gifts in exchange, again, for favors.
“Political conspiracy”
Enough to seal the campaign of Bibi
, forty-five days before the legislative elections? Probably not. Like Shimon, restaurateur in Tel Aviv, supporters of Bibi
are convinced that their champion is a victim of a political plot
whose judicial system is the accomplice
.
“He was the one who brought in the vaccine”
For Shimon, who almost went out of business because of the Covid, there is more important: The leftists complain, but they are glad that we have beaten the virus. And thanks to whom? Bibi! He’s the one who brought in the vaccine.
Express vaccination campaign, peace agreements with four new Arab countries… the Prime Minister’s record is rather positive. His party, Likud, remains stable in the polls with a quarter of the 120 seats in the Knesset.
The sluggish left
Despite the thousands of Israelis who demonstrate every week to demand Netanyahu’s resignation, the left remains sluggish at the polls. For these fourth legislative elections in two years, the suspense is elsewhere: is a figure capable of emerging to beat the pawn in Bibi, within the electorate, very largely majority, which goes from the center to the extreme right?
Eyes are turned to Gideon Sa’ar and Naftali Bennett, two former allies. The first slammed the door of Likud to build his own right-wing list; the second angry to death with Bibi
represented a harsher right, nationalist and religious, linked to the colonists.
“Bibi” the magician
But Netanyahu, who can always count on the ultra-Orthodox parties, is a magician. He is launched into a tightrope walk act, in an attempt to attract the votes of one, without compromising the support of the other, when a majority is needed… At the end of the day, a possible jackpot: a law of immunity which would protect him.
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