By Ira Sharkansky, Ph.D
JERUSALEM — Current speculation is that we’ll pass through this week, and reach the end of Amichai Maldleblit’s term as Israeli Attorney General, without a signed plea bargain. On February 1, there will be a new Attorney General, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s trial will proceed, and we’ll see what happens. In all likelihood it won’t happen quickly.
There’s also opposition speculation: that Bibi has signaled to his staff of lawyers that he’s willing to sign, but is still working to sweeten things.
He’s a tough negotiator, willing to wait until the last moment, hoping that things will be better for him.
Meanwhile we’re seeing clips of Moshe Katsav, Israel’s former President, who angrily rejected a plea bargain he had earlier accepted. His case continued, to a guilty verdict on rape and obstruction of justice. He was sentenced to seven years in prison, and served five of them before being released on limited terms. And disgrace.
Since then, we’ve only occasionally heard about Katsav. More or less quiet.
There’s been a lot of criticism about Mandleblit’s deal with Bibi, as well as Bibi’s efforts to delay acceptance and working to limit or cancel the term of disgrace that would prevent his political activity for up to seven years. Much of the criticism has been directed at Mandleblit’s overlooking of serious charges, as well as any jail time for the former Prime Minister.
We’ve been exposed to a lot of charges, and it seems reasonable to assume that Bibi would be found guilty and sentenced to jail. Yet he retains considerable support. And the movement within Likud has been severely limited.
On the face, Bibi seems committed to the proposition that there is nothing, because he did nothing wrong. He’s charged, over the years, the judicial system and the media of campaigning against him. And in the court of politics, he seems to be winning his case. Current polls show him leading a group of some 35 Knesset Members in the case of an election, while no other Likud candidate would reach 20 Knesset Members. Yet he’d still be short of the 61, with other parties, needed to form a government.
Several leading members of Likud have maneuvered to take the lead, post-Bibi. But when challenged, they deny their actions.
Mandleblit has responded to criticism from within the judicial process, as well as the media, by toughening his demands against Bibi. Is it all a game, of sorts, meant to pressure Bibi while other pressures continue for him to continue the trial until an expected verdict of not guilty?
Would the trial continue indefinitely, with Bibi’s lawyers challenging each witness and slowing things below the speed of a wounded snail.
Without some speed, justice might never be served.
That’s the essence of Bibi’s threat, while Mandleblit sees the advantage of ending this, cutting the cost of who knows how much of a delay.
It’s a mess, but not our only one.
There’s still a lot of coronavirus, and an effort of some in the government to pass a resolution creating a committee of inquiry into dealing with a German company over the acquisition of submarines. That’s part of the pressure against Bibi, but there are those not wanting to open any dirty dealings with the Germans.
And there’s a fuss over the police use of intrusive instruments against the cell phones of who? Those accused of serious crimes? Or citizens caught up in political protests. The latter possibility comes with the charge that Bibi, while Prime Minister, ordered the police to use intrusive tools against those demonstrating weekly before his residence.
Police response is that a judge accepted all the applications that led to intrusive use.
Who to believe? Aren’t there some compliant judges? How protected are we from a strong state? Or from nosy neighbors? With cell phones, how much privacy is possible?
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Ira Sharkansky, Ph.D., is professor emeritus of political science at Hebrew University. He may be contacted via ira.sharkansky@sdjewishworld.com