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DPA
Tel Aviv
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has until January 1 to ask parliament for immunity against criminal charges, the country’s attorney general said on Monday.
If Netanyahu does not succeed in getting a majority of Israel’s 120 lawmakers to support immunity, he will be tried in Jerusalem, Avichai Mandelblit wrote in a letter to the speaker of the Knesset.
The letter accompanied an extended version of the indictment that Mandelblit announced last month.
The extended version listed the names of 333 witnesses, among them top business people, aides and politicians, as well as detailed that the trial would take place in Jerusalem District Court, not Tel Aviv.
The attorney general added that he had accepted Netanyahu’s request for the 30-day period during which, under Israeli law, a prime minister may request immunity from parliament to begin from Monday.
Mandelblit had announced last month that Netanyahu would be charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust in three separate cases.
It’s the first time in Israel’s history that a sitting prime minister will be charged with corruption.
Netanyahu has dismissed the charges as an “attempted coup.” A 21-day period, within which a third parliamentary election within one year can still be avoided, is due to end on December 11.
Netanyahu has twice failed to form a coalition - once after an April election and a second time after a September vote. His rival, Benny Gantz of the centrist Blue and White faction, has failed once.
Tel Aviv
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has until January 1 to ask parliament for immunity against criminal charges, the country’s attorney general said on Monday.
If Netanyahu does not succeed in getting a majority of Israel’s 120 lawmakers to support immunity, he will be tried in Jerusalem, Avichai Mandelblit wrote in a letter to the speaker of the Knesset.
The letter accompanied an extended version of the indictment that Mandelblit announced last month.
The extended version listed the names of 333 witnesses, among them top business people, aides and politicians, as well as detailed that the trial would take place in Jerusalem District Court, not Tel Aviv.
The attorney general added that he had accepted Netanyahu’s request for the 30-day period during which, under Israeli law, a prime minister may request immunity from parliament to begin from Monday.
Mandelblit had announced last month that Netanyahu would be charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust in three separate cases.
It’s the first time in Israel’s history that a sitting prime minister will be charged with corruption.
Netanyahu has dismissed the charges as an “attempted coup.” A 21-day period, within which a third parliamentary election within one year can still be avoided, is due to end on December 11.
Netanyahu has twice failed to form a coalition - once after an April election and a second time after a September vote. His rival, Benny Gantz of the centrist Blue and White faction, has failed once.
