Pressure increases on Israel's attorney general over case against Netanyahu

Even as Blue and White leader Benny Gantz struggles to break the impasse in his effort to form a government, Yisrael Beitenu leader Avigdor Liberman continues to rule out a narrow or minority governing coalition, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists on going first in any power-sharing agreement with Gantz, all eyes are nonetheless on Jerusalem. In a modest office on Salah al-Din Street, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit is holding intense discussions with 20 senior-level attorneys before announcing his decision on whether to indict Netanyahu on charges of corruption.

The decision by Mandelblit at such a politically charged moment in time could be a game changer, a powerful push that will extricate the political wagon from the deep mud in which it is currently mired. With efforts underway to pull together a coalition government, a decision by Mandelblit to indict the prime minister — including on charges of bribery, a very serious offense in Israel — could be the impetus that forces some of the key political players out of their comfort zones. In other words, it could blow up the bloc of ultra-Orthodox and right-wing parties that have sworn allegiance to Netanyahu, prompt a rebellion within his own Likud, convince such stalwart right wingers as New Right leaders Naftali Bennet and Ayelet Shaked to defect to the opposing camp and even make Liberman ease up on the pledge he made to his voters to only join a liberal unity government without ultra-Orthodox and right-wing parties.

These are crucial days that will determine Netanyahu’s personal and political fate, and he is acting accordingly. His supporters and fans have been waging a powerful broadside campaign against the country’s legal and law enforcement authorities that has peaked with reports of pressure exerted on former Netanyahu aide Nir Hefetz to turn state's witness. According to the reports, during questioning, police investigators used brutal pressure tactics, including of a personal nature, to break Hefetz, the Netanyahu family’s communications adviser and a key witness in the influence-peddling investigation dubbed Case 4000. Netanyahu supporters claim that the use of material from Hefetz's personal life, including summoning associates not linked to the criminal suspicions against Netanyahu, constitutes a gross violation of Hefetz’s civil rights and crosses a redline. That, they argue, is what made Hefetz fold under questioning and what should invalidate the police investigation and render his testimony fruit of the poisonous tree that cannot be used to indict Netanyahu, at least not on charges of bribery, but maybe on more minor charges of fraud and breach of trust.

Netanyahu’s associates are ignoring the fact that his predecessor, Ehud Olmert, was convicted in 2014 on charges of fraud and breach of trust, losing his freedom and position at the top of Israel's power structure. In Netanyahu's thinking, if he can get the bribery charge off his back, he will emerge from slavery into freedom by defusing the most damning element of the state’s case against him. Surprisingly, he has managed to convince quite a few Israelis of this thesis.