Netanyahu Officially Indicted
January 28, 2020 6:23 AM Subscribe
Netanyahu Officially Indicted in Court After Withdrawing Immunity Bid.
Avichai Mandelblit, Attorney General of Israel, has indicted Benjamin Netanyahu on three cases: 4000, 2000, and 1000.
Case 4000: Bribery, fraud, breach of trust
Avichai Mandelblit, Attorney General of Israel, has indicted Benjamin Netanyahu on three cases: 4000, 2000, and 1000.
Case 4000: Bribery, fraud, breach of trust
Case 4000 involves the communication conglomerate Bezeq. The investigation investigated, among other issues, whether falsehoods were made with regards to paperwork leading to favorable business dealings for Bezeq owner Shaul Elovitch in exchange for favorable reporting to Netanyahu by Walla!.Case 2000: Attempted Bribery
The two largest newspapers in circulation in Israel are Yedioth Ahronoth and Israel Hayom. Israel Hayom is owned (either directly or indirectly) by Sheldon Adelson, a personal friend and benefactor of Netanyahu. Israel Hayom is often criticized by the political left for portraying Netanyahu in an overly positive light. Meanwhile, Yedioth is often criticized by the right for being unfairly negative towards Netanyahu. Netanyahu and the editor of Yedioth, Arnon "Noni" Moses, held conversations discussing passage of legislation that would close Israel Hayom in exchange for Moses's hiring journalists who would steer the paper to being more favorable to Netanyahu.Case 1000: Fraud, breach of trust
In case 1000, Netanyahu has been charged with having had a conflict of interest when, in the capacity of Minister of Communications, he handled affairs related to the business interests of Arnon Milchan. Over the course of 20 years, Netanyahu received from Milchan, and from a friend of Milchan's, James Packer, expensive cigars and champagne, worth $195,000, and jewelry for Netanyahu's wife Sara costing $3,100. The charges cite three separate incidents in which Netanyahu assisted Milchan. In the first, Netanyahu contacted US officials regarding Milchin's visa to the US. In the second, in 2013, Netanyahu discussed with then Finance Minister the possibility of extending the period of an investment tax break that would help Milchan (the tax break was not extended). In the third, Netanyhu directed an official of the communications ministry to provide information to Milchin regarding a merger of Milchin's telecommunication companies.
Deliberations on the request were set to provide hours of live footage of Netanyahu's lawyers debating the nature of the evidence collected against him with prosecutors, something Likud was concerned would aid Kahol Lavan and Yisrael Beiteinu's campaigns and destabilize support for Netanyahu among the party's voters.
Wait...So citizens can watch hours of testimony and actually be swayed by what they hear and change their minds? What odd sorcery is this?
posted by Thorzdad at 8:57 AM on January 28, 2020 [9 favorites]
Wait...So citizens can watch hours of testimony and actually be swayed by what they hear and change their minds? What odd sorcery is this?
posted by Thorzdad at 8:57 AM on January 28, 2020 [9 favorites]
Oh god his Twitter. What a fucking wanker the man is.
posted by howfar at 9:11 AM on January 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by howfar at 9:11 AM on January 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
Look, whatever else happens from this I hope that anyone who suggests the fact that a person was accused of a crime disqualifies them from seeking public office is unceremoniously fired from their job and has to decide who to vote for if they don't want their children to go to bed hungry.
posted by East14thTaco at 9:38 AM on January 28, 2020
posted by East14thTaco at 9:38 AM on January 28, 2020
It's all tactics
From the NYT: "The Israeli prime minister will face voters on March 2 as a defendant in a criminal case, but without weeks of potentially humiliating parliamentary discussion on the subject."
posted by lalochezia at 10:25 AM on January 28, 2020
From the NYT: "The Israeli prime minister will face voters on March 2 as a defendant in a criminal case, but without weeks of potentially humiliating parliamentary discussion on the subject."
posted by lalochezia at 10:25 AM on January 28, 2020
It's all tactics
In a sense, everything that happens in a parliament is tactics, but this is significant because Netanyahu's preferred outcome was squashing the indictment or receiving immunity from prosecution. He hasn't been able to whip together majority support on those and I really wonder whether Likud is going to want to enter the upcoming elections with a leader who's under indictment. This is going to be the third election in less than a year, and many MKs in the government bloc must be thinking that it's time to coalesce around someone who can actually achieve a majority.
posted by Joe in Australia at 12:35 PM on January 28, 2020
In a sense, everything that happens in a parliament is tactics, but this is significant because Netanyahu's preferred outcome was squashing the indictment or receiving immunity from prosecution. He hasn't been able to whip together majority support on those and I really wonder whether Likud is going to want to enter the upcoming elections with a leader who's under indictment. This is going to be the third election in less than a year, and many MKs in the government bloc must be thinking that it's time to coalesce around someone who can actually achieve a majority.
posted by Joe in Australia at 12:35 PM on January 28, 2020
What an amazing coincidence that Jared Kushner's "peace" plan was announced today!
What's the opposite of "two great tastes that taste great together?" That's how I feel about Trump and Bibi. Their sum is exponentially worse than their (already breathtakingly terrible) parts.
posted by Ruki at 2:42 PM on January 28, 2020 [9 favorites]
What's the opposite of "two great tastes that taste great together?" That's how I feel about Trump and Bibi. Their sum is exponentially worse than their (already breathtakingly terrible) parts.
posted by Ruki at 2:42 PM on January 28, 2020 [9 favorites]
Binary explosive?
posted by Ignorantsavage at 8:39 PM on January 28, 2020
posted by Ignorantsavage at 8:39 PM on January 28, 2020
I really wonder whether Likud is going to want to enter the upcoming elections with a leader who's under indictment
They knew what they were getting themselves into - he just defeated a primary challenge in a landslide last month. While I have to assume some of the right-wing bloc is asking questions about an alternative, it seems they suffer from a similar lack of imagination as much of the country... hard to envision anyone but Bibi.
posted by lullaby at 8:11 AM on January 29, 2020
They knew what they were getting themselves into - he just defeated a primary challenge in a landslide last month. While I have to assume some of the right-wing bloc is asking questions about an alternative, it seems they suffer from a similar lack of imagination as much of the country... hard to envision anyone but Bibi.
posted by lullaby at 8:11 AM on January 29, 2020
oh no does this mean trump will withhold aid from israel bc he is so cared about corruptions
posted by klangklangston at 9:22 AM on January 29, 2020 [8 favorites]
posted by klangklangston at 9:22 AM on January 29, 2020 [8 favorites]
I've read that Gantz can't actually do this because of Knesset procedural rules and he doesn't have the votes, but this is master level trolling:
@BarakRavidposted by Joe in Australia at 1:37 PM on January 29, 2020
BREAKING: Benny Gantz says he will bring the Trump plan for a vote of approval in the Knesset next week. This is a challenge for the right wing block which will have to decide whether to vote against the plan because it includes Palestinian state
They knew what they were getting themselves into - [Netanyahu] just defeated a primary challenge in a landslide last month.
Ye-es, but at the time it was plausible that Netanyahu would dodge the indictment yet again. Now everyone can see that he has been wounded. The deadline for changing party lists has passed, AIUI, but they could still appoint a new leader.
While I have to assume some of the right-wing bloc is asking questions about an alternative, it seems they suffer from a similar lack of imagination as much of the country... hard to envision anyone but Bibi.
Yes, the government coalition appears to be very much dependent on him. He's the linchpin that unites far right annexationists, Haredim, and the secular Russian bloc, none of whom are natural bedfellows: he's persuaded them all that they'll do better sticking with him than any alternative. I feel that if Netanyahu goes, the government will be formed by a Blue&White dominated coalition together with most of Likud and part of Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu. That would be a more centrist and stable coalition than at present, but Blue&White is itself a coalition, so you'd expect to have a lot of in-fighting for the top jobs.
posted by Joe in Australia at 1:58 PM on January 29, 2020
Ye-es, but at the time it was plausible that Netanyahu would dodge the indictment yet again. Now everyone can see that he has been wounded. The deadline for changing party lists has passed, AIUI, but they could still appoint a new leader.
While I have to assume some of the right-wing bloc is asking questions about an alternative, it seems they suffer from a similar lack of imagination as much of the country... hard to envision anyone but Bibi.
Yes, the government coalition appears to be very much dependent on him. He's the linchpin that unites far right annexationists, Haredim, and the secular Russian bloc, none of whom are natural bedfellows: he's persuaded them all that they'll do better sticking with him than any alternative. I feel that if Netanyahu goes, the government will be formed by a Blue&White dominated coalition together with most of Likud and part of Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu. That would be a more centrist and stable coalition than at present, but Blue&White is itself a coalition, so you'd expect to have a lot of in-fighting for the top jobs.
posted by Joe in Australia at 1:58 PM on January 29, 2020
As Haaretz notes: What Palestinian state? The current map makes the bantustans under South African apartheid look positively generous by comparison, with Israel apparently having complete (or nearly so) control over comings and goings between some of the geographically disparate territories. Meanwhile, Blue and White are also pretty enthusiastic about annexation, and you can forget about any meaningful opposition from the Israeli left, who is effectively non-existent as a political entity for the foreseeable future. The cruelty is the point, as the saying goes, and at this point either this completely sadistic plan succeeding or going down for not being cruel enough are both horrifying thoughts.
posted by Glegrinof the Pig-Man at 2:32 PM on January 29, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by Glegrinof the Pig-Man at 2:32 PM on January 29, 2020 [2 favorites]
Blue and White are also pretty enthusiastic about annexation
Annexation is a unilateral act. If Blue and White were “enthusiastic about annexation” it would already have taken place. Blue and White has actually been consistent about the need for negotiations with the Palestinians; other than being opposed to Netanyahu, it's probably the thing that distinguishes them most from Likud.
Here's what Gantz said a couple of days ago:
First there's the “stable functioning Israeli government” clause, a month before the third election in a year. But the real killer is that he conditioned its implementation on joint action with “other countries in our region”. Israel only has diplomatic relations with two of its immediate neighbours, and at least one of those (Jordan) cannot possibly allow itself be seen as complicit in a diminution of Palestinian rights. The other countries with large expatriate Palestinian communities are Syria and Lebanon, both of which are practically dominated by Iran and hostile to Israel. So it's just not going to happen.
posted by Joe in Australia at 5:56 PM on January 29, 2020 [1 favorite]
Annexation is a unilateral act. If Blue and White were “enthusiastic about annexation” it would already have taken place. Blue and White has actually been consistent about the need for negotiations with the Palestinians; other than being opposed to Netanyahu, it's probably the thing that distinguishes them most from Likud.
Here's what Gantz said a couple of days ago:
"The president's peace plan is a significant and historic milestone, indeed," Gantz told reporters after his meeting with Trump. "Immediately after the elections, I will work toward implementing it from within a stable functioning Israeli government, in tandem with the other countries in our region."What that means is, “Thank you, but it is not going to happen.”
First there's the “stable functioning Israeli government” clause, a month before the third election in a year. But the real killer is that he conditioned its implementation on joint action with “other countries in our region”. Israel only has diplomatic relations with two of its immediate neighbours, and at least one of those (Jordan) cannot possibly allow itself be seen as complicit in a diminution of Palestinian rights. The other countries with large expatriate Palestinian communities are Syria and Lebanon, both of which are practically dominated by Iran and hostile to Israel. So it's just not going to happen.
posted by Joe in Australia at 5:56 PM on January 29, 2020 [1 favorite]
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posted by growabrain at 8:21 AM on January 28, 2020 [2 favorites]