Prime Minister Netanyahu is facing growing calls in his Likud party to pull his request for parliamentary immunity from graft charges, according to reports on Israel’s main evening news broadcasts.
Some Likud lawmakers believe that, as a majority of Knesset members oppose granting him immunity, the outcome of the upcoming Knesset House Committee hearings has already been determined, the Kan public broadcaster reports.
The report says the Likud lawmakers also believe the immunity hearings could hurt Likud at the polls when Israelis vote on March 2.
According to Channel 13 news, some of Netanyahu’s close advisers are urging him to drop his immunity request, saying it will benefit him politically, despite it meaning criminal charges will formally be filed against him.
Netanyahu is still considering the move and has not made a decision, the network says.
The prime minister faces charges of fraud and breach of trust in three cases, as well as bribery in one of them. He denies wrongdoing and has called the investigations a witch hunt.
Discover Israel's most beloved poet
She died more than four decades ago, but Leah Goldberg remains a magnetic and enigmatic figure: Israel’s most beloved poet, a powerful woman who lived with her mother and never married, who reinvented herself from the ashes of World War I through her magical writing.
You can screen 'The Five Houses of Leah Goldberg' June 4-11. Join The Times of Israel Community today to support our work and watch this and other outstanding documentary films in our DocuNation series.
I want to see it
I want to see it
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
You're a dedicated reader
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
Join Our Community
Join Our Community
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
From the Liveblog of
Sunday, January 26, 2020
