After Shas and the Union of Right Wing Parties, all other coalition parties — except Moshe Kahlon’s Kulanu — publicly back Prime Minister Netanyahu despite Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit’s announcement of corruption charges against him, pending a hearing.
“In Israel, the only body authorized to rule whether someone is guilty or innocent is the court,” Yisrael Beytenu party chief Avigdor Liberman says in a statement. “The presumption of innocence is assured for anyone, including the prime minister. Therefore as far as we’re concerned, Netanyahu can run in the Knesset elections like anyone else.”
The New Right party similarly says Netanyahu “enjoys the presumption of innocence, like any other citizen. We respect the attorney general’s decision, but just as the attorney general himself said he would come to the [pre-indictment] hearing with an open mind, we will also wait [to judge Netanyahu] until after the hearing. The New Right party will ask the president to appoint Netanyahu to form the next coalition.”
United Torah Judaism also says it views Netanyahu as innocent until proven otherwise, confirming it will continue supporting him “especially during this sensitive time, as long as the law permits it.”
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From the Liveblog of
Thursday, February 28, 2019
