Ex-Mossad chief Pardo says Netanyahu should be put on trial if legal overhaul passes

Former Mossad chief Tamir Pardo says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should be put on trial for carrying out a “coup” with his judicial overhaul legislation.

Speaking to Channel 12 news, Pardo comments on growing threats by reserve pilots and other servicepeople to stop their volunteer duty if the bill passes, saying “everyone needs to make their own decision” and that “I greatly admire” those who have announced they will not serve.

“The person tearing apart the people’s army is the prime minister of Israel,” Pardo adds. “He has no right to do so… He is carrying out a coup, with all the elements of a coup that all the history books record. That’s what he’s doing, and for this, I hope that one day he will be brought to justice in a court of law.”

“When a prime minister turns a democratic state into a dictatorship, he should be brought to justice,” he says. “He received a mandate for a legitimate government whose task is to govern. Not for a government whose task or purpose is to change the nature of the regime in Israel.”