Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Charged With Three Counts

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been charged in three separate corruption cases.

The charges brought against the Prime Minister are bribery, fraud, and breach of trust. Those are three heavy offenses. The announcement came Thursday evening from the Attorney General. In Israel’s history never have they ever had a sitting PM face criminal investigations.

Netanyahu described the charges as “an attempted coup against a Prime Minister.” He vowed to still lead the country.

A formal indictment may still be months away, but the charges are a momentous blow to the longest serving Prime Minister in Israeli history. Benjamin has held office for more than 13 years.

Investigations became public three years ago and Netanyahu has affirmed his innocence since day one.

Opposing lawmakers have been calling for Netanyahu to step down, he refuses and he doesn’t have to. Most people in his position if indicted are forced to step down, for a Prime Minister the rules are different.

He/She is only required to step down if convicted and after an appeals process plays out, which could take several years.

Since January 2017, Netanyahu and his team have been conducting a campaign to delegitimize the investigations. They have said the process is a media-fueled witch hunt.

“There will be nothing because there is nothing.”

Despite the pleas, probes continued and after Netanyahu faced 10 rounds of questioning ‘nothing’ was found to be ‘something.’

(Cover photo courtesy of Bangor daily news, video courtesy of YouTube and DW news, source CNN)