WarSclerotic

Senior officials in Likud said the fact that the legal process is being conducted during the election campaign has led Netanyahu to strategize every move and every quote made to the media, with the main goal being to prevent the leak of votes from the right-wing bloc.

Netanyahu also made a point of repeating the messages already heard in the campaign, and stood in front of an election poster with the slogan “Netanyahu, a strong right.”

A senior Likud official told Ynet that, “Netanyahu is mainly concerned with ending this campaign with an election victory, and besides that he is working on how to form the next coalition. He understands that there is plenty of time until the (pre-indictment) hearing, but the clock is already ticking until the polls open.”

The right wing parties realize that their electorate expects them to support the prime minister and have already begun to toe the party line.

“As we have said from the start, the prime minister has a presumption of innocence like any other citizen in the country,” said Ayelet Shaked and Naftali Bennett’s New Right party.

“We respect the attorney general’s decision, but as the attorney general said in his own words that he will come to the hearing with ‘an open heart and a willing soul,’ so will we wait for the end of the hearing.”

Avigdor Lieberman, chairman of Yisrael Beiteinu, was also quick to declare that his party would have no problem sitting with Netanyahu in the next coalition.

“In the State of Israel, the only body authorized to determine whether a person is guilty or acquitted is the court,” Lieberman said. “The presumption of innocence is reserved for every person, including the prime minister. Filing an indictment subject to a hearing is not a final judgment. Therefore, as far as we are concerned, the prime minister is entitled to run in the Knesset elections like any other candidate.”

The ultra-Orthodox parties also repeated the messages of the past few days. Shas has made it clear that there is no other candidate it supports but Netanyahu, and not only will they recommend him to the president but also back him during his term of office, for as long as the law permits it.

In United Torah Judaism, too, the message was similar: “We support Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who enjoys the presumption of innocence, and as long as the law allows, we will continue to support him, especially during this sensitive period.”

Nonetheless, political sources believe that due to the legal complications he now faces, Netanyahu will find the task of forming a government more onerous, and it is possible that in view of his demands of loyalty, he will be expected to pay a higher price next time, if he does indeed find himself in that position.

It’s a sad day for Israel. For decades now, every prime minister has also been a criminal suspect. The only comfort is that despite corruption, the rule of law presides. No one gets a free pass — not even the most powerful person in the country, and not even the president. But that’s hardly any comfort, since whatever Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit says Thursday will be met with public outrage.
It’s not that the majority of the public thinks the rule of law in Israel is corrupt. But we do have to admit that most of the participants in both sides of the public debate about Netanyahu’s guilt, have made up their mind and taken a stand on the matter, without waiting for the attorney general to share his own conclusions.

A rigid perspective leads many members of the public to believe that some within the law enforcement authorities are acting from personal motivation rather than a desire to get to the truth. This doesn’t mean that whatever Mandelblit says is inevitably based on dishonest motives — far from. But it’s hard to shake the feeling that the decision about Netanyahu’s affairs was influenced by external pressures. Too many activists, journalists and politicians have already decided what the verdict will be. They have preached, they have protested, they have yelled. Every leak has become a headline and every headline has become a conviction. High-ranking judicial figures have been dragged into this media campaign against the PM.

It’s important to clarify that even if external pressures and personal motivations have been at work in regards to Netanyahu’s cases, it doesn’t make him free of corruption. And even if the criminal charges against him cannot be proven — and I do hope that this will be the case— the prime minister’s actions are riddled with corruption. Even though he and his supporters do raise some rightful claims about a public campaign of slander, leaks and pressure — there are undeniable facts describing gifts of phenomenal value, dubious decisions that aided his inner circle, unreasonable pressure on the media in the pursuit of positive news coverage, and on and on it goes.

All of this clarifies that Netanyahu has to give up the role of prime minister. The indictments to be announced Thursday don’t deal with a one-time glitch, but rather with a grim, ongoing narrative.

This is the home stretch in the campaign for Netanyahu’s future. Both camps are ready for  battle, but no one will be the winner in this fight, and we will all be the losers. If there’s still a chance to stop this fight from ripping Israeli society apart irreparably, it’s best that Mandelblit reaches a deal with Netanyahu.

The deal should include wiping out the charges against the prime minister in exchange for his resignation. There is no need to seek harsh judgment, but rather let’s make a deal to avoid undermining Israel’s rule of law. In truth, a deal could be its savior.

US President Donald Trump’s “deal of the century” to achieve peace in the Middle East will not include establishing a Palestinian state, and instead will propose Palestinian autonomy in the Gaza Strip with political and economic links to the West Bank, the Al-Quds newspaper reported on Thursday.

In addition, the Palestinians will hold negotiations with Israel over Area C of the West Bank, which is under Israeli military control.

Furthermore, the Jewish settlements will remain under Israel’s jurisdiction, but will not be expanded, according to Al-Quds.

The deal will also include strengthening cooperation between Israel, Jordan and the Palestinians over the management of the Al Aqsa mosque.

Moreover, most of IDF checkpoints will be removed, enabling the Palestinians free movement across the West Bank. However, Area B and area C will remain under complete Israeli control.

Sources involved in the formulation of the deal said that some $25 billion will be invested in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, in addition the US will transfer an additional $40 billion to Egypt, Jordan and possibly Lebanon “to ensure their cooperation” in implementing the deal.

The report comes three days after Kushner, Trump’s senior advisor and son-in-law, told Sky News Arabia in Abu Dhabi: “We want to get advice from them (countries in the region) on what is the best way to proceed and share with them some of the details of what we will be pursuing, especially on the economic vision for all the opportunity that exists if there is peace.”

In an interview broadcast on Monday on Sky News Arabia during a visit to US-allied Gulf Arab states, Kushner made no specific mention of a Palestinian state, whose creation had been a key goal of Washington’s peace efforts for two decades.

Kushner, who has responsibility for Washington’s Israel-Palestinian policy, has said the peace plan will address final-status issues of the Israel-Palestinian conflict, including establishing borders.

But he said the long-awaited peace proposal would build on “a lot of the efforts in the past,” including the 1990s Oslo accords that provided a foundation for Palestinian statehood, and would require concessions from both sides.

He added the deal focuses on permanently solving the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians and that the Americans wish to see Gaza and the West Bank united under one leadership.

“Addressing the matter of the Israeli-Palestinian borders will ensure free movement of people and goods (across the West bank), leading to new opportunities. The Palestinian economy is restricted as long as peace is not achieved,” he said.

On Wednesday, Kushner met with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, and the two discussed increasing US-Turkish cooperation and ways to boost economic conditions in the region.

“They discussed increasing cooperation between the United States and Turkey, and the Trump administration’s efforts to facilitate peace between the Israelis and Palestinians,” the White House said. “Additionally, they discussed ways to improve the condition of the entire region through economic investment.”