Netanyahu denies agreeing to ‘moral turpitude’ plea deal
OPPOSITION leader Benjamin Netanyahu publicly declared this week that he had not agreed to a charge of moral turpitude as part of a plea bargain in his corruption trial, indicating that he has no intention to do so or to leave politics, since reports said he had released the statement in response to the collapse of plea-deal talks with Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit.
The former prime minister vowed to remain the leader of his Likud party and of the right-wing political camp, and to eventually return to power and lead the country.
Netanyahu made what were his first public remarks on the plea talks in a video posted to his social media accounts on Monday. A short while later, Hebrew media reports said Mandelblit, whose term ends in a week, had earlier in the day informed Netanyahu’s attorneys that negotiations would have to wait until a new attorney general takes office.
Netanyahu had reportedly been hoping to seal a deal with Mandelblit, believing that the latter – a Netanyahu appointee – wanted to end his six-year term with a “clean slate”. However, media reports have increasingly indicated that the talks were initiated too late for a deal to be finalised before Mandelblit retired.
Since reports of the negotiations emerged earlier this month, they generally said that Mandelblit was demanding that any plea deal with Netanyahu include a clause of “moral turpitude” – which would bar Netanyahu from public office for seven years. Some reports said that a period of just two years was also discussed in the plea bargain.
The requirement for moral turpitude was underlined last Thursday by Deputy State Attorney Shlomo Lamberger, telling a conference held by the Israel Bar Association that it would be “inconceivable” for a plea deal not to include such a clause.
In addition, the reports said that other charges would be significantly lowered in two of the cases against the former prime minister, and dismissed in the third.
Netanyahu said media reports on the terms have been wrong.
“In recent days, there were mistaken claims made in the media on things that I allegedly agreed to, such as the claim that I agreed to moral turpitude,” he said. “That is simply not correct.”
“I will continue to lead the Likud and the national camp in order to lead Israel, on your behalf,” he vowed.
Netanyahu also thanked his “millions” of supporters and reiterated his long accusation that he was mistreated by law enforcement officials and the justice system, declaring that “the entire public can see what is happening in the courthouse and how the investigation against me was handled.”
He insisted that the proper course of action was to simply close the cases against him, “but that still hasn’t happened.”
Both the Channel 12 and Channel 13 news stations assessed that Netanyahu’s relatively mild rhetoric in the video statement still leaves an opening for him to continue plea negotiations in the future.
Channel 13 claimed, without citing sources, that Netanyahu had already recorded the video last week and decided to publish it after Mandelblit informed him that negotiations would not be completed during his term. Sources familiar with the talks told the network that Netanyahu had in fact agreed to a moral turpitude plea, but then stepped back after Mandelblit’s notification.
Netanyahu was reported last week to be prepared to agree to moral turpitude but not as an opening commitment, in part because of his mistrust of Mandelblit and concern that a deal would fall apart.
Reacting to the developments, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid told Channel 13 that Netanyahu’s video was “proof” of the need to pass a law he previously initiated as head of the opposition, which would bar anyone convicted of moral turpitude from serving as prime minister, minister, Knesset member or mayor.
Lapid said he suggested that law “precisely to prevent these kinds of phenomena. We must let the judicial process take its course.”
Netanyahu, 72, is on trial in three separate graft cases: for fraud and breach of trust in Case 1000 and in Case 2000, and for bribery, fraud and breach of trust in Case 4000.
Netanyahu denies all allegations against him, and claims the charges were fabricated by a biased police force and state prosecution service, overseen by a weak attorney general, in league with political opponents and the leftist media.
TIMES OF ISRAEL
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