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Israel’s Netanyahu due in court, as coalition talks ramp up
JERUSALEM, April 5, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Israel’s legal and political dramas
converge Monday, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu due in court for his
corruption trial and the president to launch talks to help form a government.
Judges have ordered Netanyahu appear at the Jerusalem District Court for
the prosecution’s opening arguments in the case where he is charged with
bribery, fraud and breach of trust — allegations he denies.
While lead prosecutor Liat Ben-Ari will be laying out the criminal case
against Israel’s longest-serving leader, across the city President Reuven
Rivlin will hold discussions that could determine Netanyahu’s political fate.
Israel’s March 23 election was its fourth inconclusive vote in less than
two years, prolonging the worst political crisis in the nation’s history.
Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party finished first, winning 30 seats in the
120-member parliament, but his ability to form a stable governing coalition
is precarious, a reality that has plagued him for several years.
Rivlin on Monday begins two days of consultations with party officials to
determine who has a plausible path towards a 61-seat majority, in a
parliament bitterly divided between those who back Netanyahu and those
committed to ending his 12-year tenure.
Customarily, Rivlin gives a 28-day window to form a government to the
leader with most recommendations from individual lawmakers.
That can be extended 14 days at the president’s discretion.
– ‘Out-of-the-ordinary coalitions’? –
Netanyahu is expected to get support from his 30 Likud loyalists, 16
lawmakers representing Israel’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties, and six votes
from the far-right Religious Zionism alliance.
That makes a likely total of 52, nine short of the absolute majority
needed.
Because the ideologically divided anti-Netanyahu camp has no agreed leader,
Netanyahu may receive the most recommendations.
But in comments that infuriated Likud, Rivlin last week implied that he
would not necessarily be guided by mathematics alone.
He said he would give the mandate to the lawmaker who has a chance to form
a government “that will heal the divisions between us and rebuild Israeli
society.”
The president also said that “out-of-the-ordinary coalitions” may be
required to break the political gridlock.
Given past public acrimony between Rivlin and Netanyahu, Likud interpreted
those comments as a sign that the president was tacitly aligned with the
anti-Netanyahu camp.
Rivlin — a Likud member when he was in parliament — was accused by
Netanyahu’s party of overstepping his largely ceremonial mandate.
Within the anti-Netanyahu bloc, the centrist Yesh Atid party, led by former
television host Yair Lapid, won the most seats with 17.
An anti-Netanyahu alliance would require a tightrope deal among Lapid,
Likud defector Gideon Saar, Netanyahu’s estranged protege Naftali Bennett —
a hardline religious nationalist — and a group of centrist and left-wing
parties.
– Long legal process –
In an unprecedented twist for Israeli coalition politics, it appears
impossible for either camp to form a government without support from the
conservative Islamic Raam Party, headed by Mansour Abbas, who controls four
seats.
MORE/MSY/0922 hrs
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Abbas has said he is open to hearing from all sides, but the far-right
Religious Zionism party has ruled out sitting in a government with Raam,
complicating Netanyahu’s coalition hopes.
It is also far from certain that the anti-Netanyahu bloc can coalesce,
raising the prospect of a fifth election in less than three years.
Rivlin will select a leader on Wednesday charged with trying to form a
government.
If they fail to do so, Rivlin will then move on to the next name on his
list.
Netanyahu was formally charged last year with accepting improper gifts, and
seeking to trade regulatory favours with media moguls in exchange for
positive coverage.
Anti-Netanyahu protesters, who dub him the “Crime Minister”, surrounded the
court ahead of his last appearance in February, and are expected to do so
again on Monday.
Judges have said Netanyahu can leave the courtroom after the opening
arguments, when the witness testimony begins.
No quick resolution is expected.
The trial enters a more intensive, evidentiary phase on Monday but a ruling
is still several months off.
Netanyahu would not be compelled to resign as prime minister unless he is
convicted with all appeals exhausted. That could take several years.
BSS/AFP/MSY/0922 hrs