PM: I will not resign if AG says he intends to charge me; law does not require me to do so

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that he will not resign even if the attorney general announces an intention to indict him for one or more of the corruption probes against him.

“The law does not require me to do so,” he says in a press conference with Israeli media in Brazil.

“Israel is a country of law, and the law does not require that a prime minister resign during the process of hearing [at which a suspect has the opportunity to put his case before an indictment is issued],” he says.

“Imagine what happens if you oust a prime minister before the end of the hearing process, and at the end of the hearing it is decided to close the case,” he says. “That would be absurd, and a terrible blow to democracy.”