Iraq News Now

Israel’s attorney general on Thursday recommended indicting

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with bribery and breach of trust in a series

of corruption cases, a momentous move that shook up Israel’s election campaign

and could spell the end of the prime minister’s illustrious political career, according to AP.

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit announced his decision

after more than two years of intense investigations and deliberations.

Police had recommended indicting Netanyahu for bribery,

fraud and breach of trust in three different cases that ranged from accepting

expensive gifts from wealthy allies to allegedly trading influence for more

favorable press coverage.

“The attorney general has reached his decision after

thoroughly examining the evidence,” his statement said.

The final decision on indictment will only take place after

a hearing, where Netanyahu is given the opportunity to defend himself. That

process is expected to take many months and be completed long after the April 9

elections.

But the recommendations immediately cast a cloud over the

campaign and Netanyahu’s future.

An indictment would mark the first time in Israeli history

that a sitting prime minister has been charged with a crime. Former Prime

Minister Ehud Olmert served time in prison for corruption, but had already

resigned by the time he was charged.

Netanyahu doesn’t look to go that quietly. He denies any

wrongdoing and calls the various allegations a media-orchestrated witch hunt

aimed at removing him from office. He has vowed to carry on and is deadlocked

in the polls, 40 days before Israelis go to vote.

Netanyahu scheduled a press conference later Thursday to

respond to the attorney general’s decision.

In a last-ditch effort to prevent the public release of an

indictment, Netanyahu’s Likud party petitioned the Supreme Court to have it

delayed until after the elections. But the court rejected the request Thursday

afternoon, potentially clearing the way for an announcement from the attorney

general.

Despite opposition calls for Netanyahu to step down, Likud

and his other nationalist coalition partners have lined up behind him thus far,

all but ruling out sitting in a government led by his primary opponent, retired

military chief Benny Gantz.

While Israeli prime ministers are not required by law to

resign if charged, the prospect of a prime minister standing trial while

simultaneously running the country would be unchartered territory.

Mandelblit’s decision could either galvanize Netanyahu’s

hard-line supporters who see him as a victim of an overzealous prosecution or

turn more moderate backers against him who have tired of his lengthy rule

tainted by long-standing accusations of corruption and hedonism.

Either way, the upcoming elections appear to be morphing

into a referendum on Netanyahu as he seeks to become the longest serving

premier in Israeli history. Netanyahu have been prime minister since 2009 and

served a previous term between 1996 and 1999.

President Donald Trump, with whom Netanyahu has forged a

close connection, offered the Israeli leader a boost ahead of the expected

announcement.

“I just think he’s been a great prime minister and I don’t

know about his difficulty but you tell me something people have been hearing

about, but I don’t know about that,” he said in response to a question in

Hanoi, where he was holding a summit with the leader of North Korea.

“I can say this: that he’s done a great job as prime

minister. He’s tough, he’s smart, he’s strong,” Trump said.

Netanyahu rushed back Wednesday from a diplomatic mission to

Moscow, and a meeting with President Vladimir Putin, to prepare for his

expected rebuttal to the charges on Thursday.

The most serious allegations against Netanyahu involve his

relationship with Shaul Elovitch, the controlling shareholder of Israel’s

telecom giant Bezeq.

Mandelblit recommended a bribery charge in the case based on

evidence collected that confidants of Netanyahu promoted regulatory changes

worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Bezeq.

In exchange, they believe Netanyahu used his connections

with Elovitch to receive positive press coverage on Bezeq’s popular subsidiary

news site Walla. Police have said their investigation concluded that Netanyahu

and Elovitch engaged in a “bribe-based relationship.” A related charge against

Netanyahu’s wife, Sara, was dropped.

Mandelblit’s statement said there was a unanimous opinion

among investigators that the relationship between Netanyahu and the Elovitches

constituted bribery.

“Everyone agreed there was enough evidence to prove that

benefits were given to Netanyahu by Elovitch and his wife Iris Elovitch and

were taken by Netanyahu in return for actions he took as part of his job,” it

said.

Mandelblit also filed breach of trust charges in two other

cases. One involves accepting gifts from billionaire friends, and the second

revolves around alleged offers of advantageous legislation for a major

newspaper in return for favorable coverage.

Mandelblit’s office said the timing of Netanyahu’s hearing

would be set in the near future in coordination with the prime minister’s

lawyers.