Opinion: Recommendation to indict Netanyahu shows Israeli democracy is healthy — for now
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Israeli town of Ramat Gan on Feb. 21. By Yohanan Plesner February 28 at 12:50 PM Yohanan Plesner is the president of the Israel Democracy Institute in Jerusalem. He served as a member of the Knesset from 2007 to 2013.
In Israel, too, no sitting prime minister has ever been indicted, meaning that the attorney general’s announcement pitches us into uncharted legal and political waters. I vividly recall the drama of July 2008 when, as police investigations into his conduct came to a head, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert convened our Kadima Party faction in the Knesset and revealed his decision to resign.
The next few months will be decisive ones for the rule of law in Israel. There is a good chance that following April’s elections, Netanyahu will be tasked with forming a government for a fifth time. Legally, Mandelblit’s decision will have no effect on this process.
Although the indictment of a prime minister on bribery charges is no cause for celebration, it is in fact an indicator of the underlying strength of Israel’s democratic institutions. Our system seems to be working. The former police chief — a personal appointment of the prime minister and a member of the national religious stream that makes up a key component of his political base — recommended charges in three separate investigations against Netanyahu.
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