If Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is feeling the pressure increase as the verdict nears for former foreign minister and present Knesset member Avigdor Liberman, he hides it well. The culmination of one of the biggest court cases in Israel's political and legal system will come Wednesday, Nov. 6, when the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court is scheduled to announce the verdict in the Belarus ambassador affair, over which Liberman faces charges of fraud and breach of public trust.
Even seasoned legal commentators find it difficult to predict the ultimate fate of Liberman, Netanyahu's partner in leading the Likud-Beiteinu faction. The options range from total exoneration to conviction without moral turpitude, to conviction with moral turpitude. The first two possibilities would allow him to return to the Foreign Ministry immediately, a post that has been set aside for him since elections at the beginning of 2013. During this time, the prime minister functioned as foreign minister. In the event of a conviction with moral turpitude, Liberman would be forced to quit the Knesset immediately. He could, however, run in the coming elections.
