The trial of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Bibi) for bribery, fraud and breach of trust has begun. There are three cases against him and not all are of equal weight. It is not important for our readers to know the details. If you want to know the details, you can find it easily on the internet through an internet search/ There are numerous detailed articles describing the charges and the evidence.
I think that there are a few important things to understand that can inform your prayer. Bibi and part of his rightwing party (Likud) members are engaging in a propaganda campaign to discredit the investigators and the Attorney General, Avichai Mandelblit, who brought the charges. They claim that this is a campaign of the left to remove the right-wing government. They also are on a campaign to discredit the court as an activist court and to also discredit the Supreme Court. I believe this is very dangerous. Yes, as in the United States, the Court here has been too activist at times, but this is a criminal trial not a matter of activist legal interpretations. The campaign to discredit the Court by Netanyahu’s closest allies in Likud is wrong and again dangerous to the country. Not all Likud members are in on this campaign. Several higher-ups in Likud have perceived themselves to have been betrayed by Bibi and remain quiet. One other matter is disturbing. They brought up a case from 10 years ago where the Attorney General was investigated to find if he covered up a case for General Gabi Ashkenazi who is now the Foreign Minister in the Unity Government and part of Benny Gantz’s Blue and White Party. This was dismissed a decade ago.
Bibi is innocent until proven guilty, but it does not look good for him, though I hope he would be found innocent. I have evaluated Bibi in the past in my postings. He has done some really great things and not so great things! One key thing to keep in mind is to understand who Avichai Mandelblit is. He is a conservative Attorney General that was appointed by Bibi! If one was following the investigation and the prosecutors, it seemed as if Mandelblit was doing everything possible to not indict Bibi. He was an ally of Bibi. However, the force of the evidence was so great to him that he could not avoid it. History would record the evidence and if he did not go forward, he would forever be remembered by history as a compromised political hack. So now Bibi seeks to discredit his own pick for the Attorney General, his former ally. Again, I hope Bibi is innocent and found innocent, but the evidence, even as reported in the conservative Zionist press, is that he is guilty. (not in the Bibi newspaper Yisrael Hayom)
One sad thing about the complexity of legal processes here is that this could all take form 18 months to 3 years to finalize. There could be appeals to make it even a longer time.
Photo credit: Haim Zach (GPO)