Who is Benjamin Netanyahu, and what is he accused of?<\/strong><\/p>\nNetanyahu, Israel\u2019s prime minister for a decade, is up for re-election on April 9. He\u2019s running for his fifth term. He was first elected in 1996 for one term, then returned to office in 2009 and hasn\u2019t left. He leads the right-wing Likud party.<\/p>\n
But he could be in trouble. After years of investigation, his country\u2019s attorney general charged Netanyahu in three separate corruption cases. Two have to do with Netanyahu buying himself positive press, and the third alleges that he received illegal gifts from a rich donor. The Israeli Police have numbered them Case 1000, Case 2000 and Case 4000. (Don\u2019t worry about 3000 \u2014 that investigation was dropped.)<\/p>\n
Case 1000: Netanyahu is accused of accepting illegal gifts from Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan, including Cuban cigars and pink champagne. The gifts totaled about $200,000. In return, Netanyahu allegedly helped secure a U.S. visa for Milchan and supported a law that would give tax breaks to the billionaire if he moved back to Israel.<\/p>\n
Case 2000: Netanyahu is accused of advancing a law that would have hurt one newspaper in exchange for positive coverage from a rival paper. In Israel, the two leading papers are Yediot Acharonot and Israel Hayom. Yediot is generally anti-Netanyahu. Israel Hayom is almost always pro-Netanyahu \u2014 and it\u2019s also free, thanks to funding from the American casino mogul Sheldon Adelson.<\/p>\n
Case 2000 alleges that Netanyahu made this deal with Yediot\u2019s publisher: Netanyahu would support a law banning free daily papers \u2014 that would hurt Israel Hayom. In return, Yediot would give Netanyahu positive coverage.<\/p>\n
Case 4000: Netanyahu is accused of supporting looser regulation of Israel\u2019s telecom giant, Bezeq, in exchange for favorable coverage from a news website Bezeq owns called Walla.<\/p>\n
Sounds like Netanyahu really wants positive news coverage. <\/p>\n
Allegedly. But Netanyahu and the Israeli press don\u2019t really get along. Like his ally, President Donald Trump, Netanyahu says the local press is out to get him. He accuses the media of being left-wing and dishonest, and likes to use the term \u201cfake news\u201d a lot. He doesn\u2019t translate it: He just says \u201cfake news\u201d while speaking Hebrew.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a big part of his defense: Since the investigations began a couple of years ago, he has attacked the media again and again for accusing him of corruption \u2014 seeking to depose him in court because he keeps winning elections.<\/p>\n
Netanyahu does have a few allies in the media, including Israel Hayom, which has consistently supported him since it was founded by Adelson, a Netanyahu ally, in 2007. (Yes, this is the same paper he allegedly said he\u2019d hurt through legislation. Kind of ironic.)<\/p>\n
And this year, as part of his re-election campaign, Adelson launched a pro-Netanyahu TV channel.
\nHow else is Netanyahu defending himself?<\/p>\n
Defiantly. Since the investigations began in 2016, Netanyahu has insisted that \u201cNothing will happen \u2014 because nothing happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a speech following the announcement of the indictment Thursday, Netanyahu didn\u2019t give an inch. He called the criminal proceedings a left-wing conspiracy and said he would beat the charges.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor three years, they\u2019ve gone after us politically \u2014 an unprecedented hunting expedition, with one goal \u2014 to depose the right-wing government led by me,\u201d the prime minister said. \u201cThe primary goal is to influence the elections, even when they know this house of cards will completely collapse after the elections.\u201d<\/p>\n
But wait \u2014 Netanyahu is facing criminal charges. Will he have to step down?<\/p>\n
Nope. There\u2019s no law that forces a sitting prime minister to resign if indicted. Plenty of people \u2014 including Netanyahu\u2019s opponents \u2014 have said that he should resign for the good of the country. They say a sitting prime minister can\u2019t be tied up in court while he has to run the country. But Netanyahu is standing his ground, and legally, it looks like he\u2019s within his rights. A final hearing, probably after the election, will determine whether the charges go forward.<\/p>\n
Has this ever happened before?<\/strong>
\nYes and no. Netanyahu is the first prime minister to be indicted for corruption \u2014 but that\u2019s only because previous prime ministers have resigned before the process got this far. In 2008, Ehud Olmert resigned amid allegations of bribery, even before police recommended that he be indicted. Olmert eventually was convicted and served time in prison.<\/p>\nAnd in 1977, Yitzhak Rabin resigned after it became public that he and his wife held illegal foreign bank accounts totaling $10,000. Rabin ran again 15 years later and won. He would sign a historic peace treaty with the Palestinians but two years later be assassinated by a Jewish extremist.
\nNetanyahu, though, hasn\u2019t backed down, staying in office even after police recommended that he be indicted, and after the indictment came through. That\u2019s never happened before; we\u2019re in uncharted waters now.<\/p>\n
What does this mean for the election?<\/strong>
\nUnclear. Netanyahu is in a tight race with a new centrist party called Blue and White (the colors of Israel\u2019s flag), which has a narrow lead in the polls. And a poll by The Times of Israel published Thursday says the indictment could hurt Netanyahu at the polls, moving some right-wing voters over to his rival.<\/p>\nBut here\u2019s where it gets complicated: Even if Netanyahu wins fewer votes in the election on April 9, he could still win the election. Israel has a parliamentary government, so what matters is which party can get a majority in the Knesset, Israel\u2019s parliament, to back them. So even if Netanyahu finishes second, he will stay as prime minister if there is a right-wing majority overall \u2014 and it\u2019s willing to back him.<\/p>\n
So Netanyahu could still serve another term, even under indictment?<\/strong>
\nMaybe. Let\u2019s talk on April 10.<\/p>\n
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