Posted on 10/02/2019 10:27:00 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
TEL AVIV — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political and personal future hangs in the balance this week, as a pretrial hearing weighing whether to indict him on corruption charges kicked off.
Following the four-day hearing which began Wednesday, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit will decide whether to indict Israel’s longest serving prime minister on fraud and bribery charges in three corruption cases.
Netanyahu denies any wrongdoing and has said he is the victim of a politically orchestrated “witch-hunt” by the media and the left.
The start of the hearing came after talks to form a unity government, following last month's election that ended in a stalemate, hit a further snag Tuesday when Netanyahu’s rival, Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz, called off a meeting between the two leaders slated for Wednesday.
The meeting was meant to be a last-ditch attempt by Netanyahu to cobble together the unity government between his right-wing Likud and the centrist Blue and White party. But in a statement published Tuesday, Blue and White said the preconditions for future meetings between the negotiating teams had not been met.
The faltering negotiations come after Israeli President Reuven Rivlin tapped Netanyahu to form a new government following the inconclusive Sept. 17 election that left neither Netanyahu nor Gantz with a 61-seat governing majority.
Israeli presidents are responsible for picking prime minister candidates after elections. The process is usually a formality but has recently become much more complicated due to the election deadlock.
Gantz, a former army chief of staff, has publicly resisted the idea of allying with Netanyahu, citing the corruption charges against him.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
Looks like we’re headed to a third round of elections after the New Year in 2020 unless everyone climbs down from their political trees.
Looks like we’re headed to a third round of elections after the New Year in 2020 unless everyone climbs down from their political trees.
Door number two. Of course, the lawfare will continue until the night after the next election.
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