Smotrich says he doesn’t agree with partner’s proposed law that would end Netanyahu trial

MK Itamar Ben Gvir (R) and MK Bezalel Smotrich (L) at an election campaign event in Sderot, October 26, 2022 (Flash90)
MK Itamar Ben Gvir (R) and MK Bezalel Smotrich (L) at an election campaign event in Sderot, October 26, 2022 (Flash90)

Religious Zionism leader Bezalel Smotrich says he disagrees with his far-right electoral partner Itamar Ben Gvir’s support for legislation that would cancel opposition chief Benjamin Netanyahu’s ongoing trial on graft charges.

In a recording released earlier today, Ben Gvir could be heard saying that if he is part of the next government, he will advance the so-called so-called French Law barring police from probing corruption suspicions against premiers, and push to have it applied retroactively.

“No, my program is clear,” Smotrich says in an interview with the Galei Yisrael radio station.

Smotrich, who is running on a joint slate with Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit faction, touts his own proposes electoral reforms — which include drastically curbing judicial authority and scrubbing the criminal charges of fraud and breach of trust from the criminal code.

Netanyahu was charged with fraud and breach of trust in three separates cases, as well as bribery in one of them. Smotrich has insisted that if passed, his proposal to get rid of the charges would not impact ongoing cases.

“Netanyahu’s trial is the best thing helping us,” he asserts in regards to his proposals.

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