I see CNN is reporting that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has finally been charged with various crimes:
Charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust have been unveiled against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in three separate corruption cases, the Attorney General announced on Thursday evening, marking the first time in Israel’s history that a sitting PM faces indictment in criminal investigations.
During a final pre-indictment hearing last month, Netanyahu’s high-powered legal team tried to convince prosecutors to close the cases, including the most serious charge of bribery. But Avichai Mandelblit, a Netanyahu appointee who once served as his cabinet secretary, is moving forward.
Israel’s deadlocked parliament means that a formal indictment may still be months away. Nevertheless, the charges are a significant blow to Israel’s longest-serving Prime Minister, who has held office for a total of more than 13 years. He has proclaimed his innocence ever since the criminal investigations became public nearly three years ago.
AL Monitor’s Danny Zaken gives a succinct summation of the situation:
Why it matters: Netanyahu’s investigations have trailed him throughout the 2019 electoral season and have dominated this year’s elections. His rivals blame him for holding his Likud Party — and the whole country — hostage to his criminal cases and preventing the formation of a unity government that could end Israel’s political paralysis.
Netanyahu has led the country for more than 10 years and his upcoming legal fight against the charges is expected to be deeply intertwined with Israeli politics. The impact on national security is also not to be discounted as Israel steps up its attacks against Gaza and Iranian targets in Syria.
This is an interesting parallel to the American situation: a populist politician who has used fear to manipulate and draw voters to him, who has displayed unlimited ambition and a certain arrogance which seems to attract a certain class of voter, whose actions in pursuit of power can be easily seen as dangerous to the very country which he purports to lead, and who now appears to have been caught indulging in crass actions which are designed to use the powers of the office to personally and illegally benefit himself.
Of course, when we’re talking about grasping, self-interested individuals – and entities – there are certain differences in behaviors from more admirable entities. Trump has proven to be less than a constant ally of Israel, a matter which has given the right-wing Israelis fits, and should give Trump’s religious allies some heartburn.
But I think – I hope – we’re seeing the mechanisms installed by the designers of these governments to guard against untrustworthy politicians and foolish electorates springing into action. The importance of independent agencies, a professional bureaucracy with strong whistleblower protections, co-equal and independent branches of government with oversight power – all of these and more stand as safeguards against the inevitable winds of corruption which will dog humanity for as long as it’s around.
Now it’s up to those taken in by Trump and like-minded would-be politicians to learn from their errors and select better leaders, despite the blandishments of these power-hungry men.
And will the Trump-admiring Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison end up in the metaphorical cell next to their’s? I have a morbid fascination on the matter. And what of the Poles, and the Hungarians? Are their institutions strong enough?
