By Ira Sharkansky, Ph.D
JERUSALEM — Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandleblit is coming to the end of his term. And he’s finishing it with a number of plea bargains.
One has been with Ariyeh Deri. He’s pleading guilty to tax fraud, paying a fine of 180,000 shekels ($56,615) resigning from the Knesset, but avoiding a charge of moral turpitude that would keep him out of politics. Indeed, it looks like he’ll be leading the SHAS political party, but from a position outside of the Knesset.
This will be Deri’s second conviction. Earlier he had served 22 months in prison for taking bribes as Interior Minister in the 1990s.
Another case concerns Yaakov Litzman, an ultra-Orthodox Knesset member, and former Minister of Health, He stepped over the line in seeking a psychological assertion that kept a religious woman from being extradited to Australia, where she faced charges of sexual harassment of girls in her school. Litzman would plead guilty to a breach of trust, pay a modest fine of 3,000 shekels, and resign from the Knesset. Left out of the plea bargain was a case where Litzman used his influence to protect an ultra-Orthodox food business accused of unsanitary practices.
Somewhat earlier was a plea bargain with Knesset Member Haim Katz. It concerned one of the minor charges against Katz, and fits the pattern of Mandleblit’s efforts to close cases, in part by charging key figures with much less than existing indictments.
Not included in Mandleblit’s accomplishments is a plea agreement with the former Prime Minister, and currently the Head of Opposition Benjamin Netanyahu.
This was the most serious case, involving the receipt of gifts, fraud, breach of trust, and bribery. A protracted period of negotiations failed over the issue of moral turpitude that would keep Bibi out of politics for a period of seven years. By then, he will be 80, and presumably out of politics. Mandleblit insisted on moral turpitude, and Netanyahu opposed.
He went on television to assert his innocence, his intentions to continue leading the opposition, and his intention to return to the post of Prime Minister.
At least for the time being, this has quieted the movements within Likud to find a replacement for him as party leader.
He retains considerable public support, with polls indicating that he would far outreach opponents in the number of Knesset seats, he could acquire as party leader. But still not enough, with the help of other parties, to reach the 61 seats necessary to form a government.
By the same poll, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has only four percent saying that he should be Prime Minister.
Against Bibi’s decision to resist a plea bargain, we’re seeing clips of former President Moshe Katsav, who reportedly reached a plea bargain agreement then reneged, as he angrily asserted his innocence. That was in advance of a continued trial, that led to his conviction for rape, and then serving five years of a seven year term.
Bibi’s trial will continue, but at a pace that suggests we all may die before its finish. Including Netanyahu himself. We have heard two witnesses, and are told that the prosecution has a list of some 300. And at the current pace, that’ll take a long time to finish.
Or until the negotiations return. Reports are that Bibi’s attorneys preferred a plea bargain, but the accused refused the terms. Hope? Power? Will he return to office?
His persistence says as much about the Israeli population as it says about him. His support? And the reluctance of Likud opponents to challenge him. Does this reflect a sincere belief in his innocence? Or a lack of concern for charges against him, and a notion that as leader, he is entitled to act as he wishes?
Among Bibi’s recent comments was criticism of the government’s handling of schools in the context of Corona.
He was not alone. The policy has been a complex set of instructions about testing, with the passing out of tests for twice-weekly use, along with requirements for reporting positive results and appropriate follow-ups. But inquiries by the media show that many of the tests have not reached the schools, and that perhaps a minority of parents follow the rules. Lots of kids get to school and report that they were not tested.
Are the rules too complex for the public to follow?
Most likely.
Meanwhile, Bennett continues to serve as Prime Minister. He’s been in office for seven and one-half months, and there is no current threat of an election. Despite the government being close to the tipping point with respect to Knesset support. And the government ranges from right to left, with no central posture keeping it together. Except for being anti-Bibi. So the former Prime Minister’s opposition to a plea agreement is what keeps the current government in office.
So much for the power of Bibi’s ego.
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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