JERUSALEM: Israel’s attorney general said on Friday there was no legal reason to prevent him from indicting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on corruption charges before an election on April 9 should he decide such a move was warranted.
Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit said his team was still examining the case materials and intended to make a decision as soon as possible.
Netanyahu is facing possible charges in three graft cases. He denies any wrongdoing and has called the cases a witch-hunt.
He is still the favorite to win the election but opinion polls show one of his toughest challengers, former general Benny Gantz, making gains.
Mandelblit said he had informed Netanyahu’s lawyers “there is no impediment to making and publishing a decision, if there is any, to consider filing an indictment in the cases relating to the prime minister, or part of them, subject to a hearing, even before the election date.”
Netanyahu has said he would not bow out of the race if Mandelbit announces his intention to accept police recommendations to indict him.
Police say Netanyahu granted regulatory favors to leading telecommunications company Bezeq Telecom Israel in return for more positive coverage on a news website belonging to the firm’s owner.
In a second case, police contend that Netanyahu received expensive gifts from rich friends. A third investigation focuses on suspicions that Netanyahu negotiated a deal with one newspaper for better coverage in return for promises to back legislation that would have limited the circulation of a rival.
Israeli attorney general says he can rule on Netanyahu indictment before election
Israeli attorney general says he can rule on Netanyahu indictment before election
- Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit said his team was still examining the case materials and intended to make a decision as soon as possible
- Netanyahu is facing possible charges in three graft cases which he denies
Israeli military says it will pursue every successor of Iran’s Khamenei
- The clerical body that will choose Iran’s next supreme leader has more or less reached a majority consensus
- Minor disagreement over whether their final decision must follow an in-person meeting or instead be issued
The Israeli military warned it would continue pursuing every successor of Iran’s next supreme leader.
In a post on X in Farsi, the Israeli military also warned it would pursue every person who seeks to appoint a successor for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, referring to the clerical body charged with choosing the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader.
The clerical body that will choose Iran’s next supreme leader, succeeding the slain Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has more or less reached a majority consensus, Assembly of Experts member Ayatollah Mohammadmehdi Mirbaqeri said on Sunday.
The Mehr news agency quoted him as saying “some obstacles” still needed to be resolved regarding the process.
On Saturday, a senior cleric in the Assembly of Experts said its members would meet “within one day” to choose the leader.
Iranian media said the group had a minor disagreement over whether their final decision must follow an in-person meeting or instead be issued without adhering to this formality.
Ayatollah Mohsen Heidari Alekasir, another member of the Assembly of Experts, said in a video released by Nournews on Sunday that an in-person meeting by the assembly for a final vote was not possible under current conditions.
He said a candidate had been picked, based on the late supreme leader’s advice that Iran’s top leader should “be hated by the enemy” instead of praised by it.
“Even the Great Satan (US) has mentioned his name,” Heidari Alekasir said of the chosen successor, days after US President Donald Trump said that Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba, was an “unacceptable” choice for him.
