Opposition chief Benjamin Netanyahu is huddling with his lawyers, Boaz Ben Tzur and Amit Hadad, at the latter’s home, together with Netanyahu’s wife, Sara, and sons Yair and Avner, to discuss a potential plea bargain with prosecutors in the former premier’s corruption cases, Channel 12 news reports.
Sara, who previously was in favor, now opposes a deal, and so does Yair, according to both Channel 12 and Channel 13 news. In contrast, the former premier’s lawyers are united in support of a bargain, believing it is a “dream deal for Netanyahu,” and they are trying to convince him to accept it.
However, state prosecutors are reportedly unsure that there is enough time to wrap up such a deal in the window of opportunity before Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit steps down in 15 days.
A senior prosecution source tells Channel 12: “The chance that there’ll be an agreement with Mandeblit is very small, even weak. The media is going much further than the reality. Practically speaking, there’s almost no time, even if the defense accepts the attorney general’s terms.”
Those terms are said to stipulate that the 72-year-old Netanyahu would be agreeing to de facto give up on his political career, accepting moral turpitude that bars him from serving as prime minister or minister for seven years.
“There needs to be an entire negotiation with prosecutors over every small detail and every nuance of the draft [agreement]. It’s a whole saga,” the source says.
Channel 13 quotes associates of Mandelblit saying the chance of a deal is “negligible,” since a deal couldn’t be finalized even if Netanyahu announces today that he accepts prosecutors’ demands.
Channel 12 says some in the prosecution team want to add another condition to any deal, requiring Netanyahu to formally retract his assault on the police and prosecution and recognize that they were not biased or engaged in a “witch hunt,” as he has frequently argued.