‘The 2020 campaign began today,’ Lapid says in apparent admission of defeat

Blue and White No. 2 Yair Lapid appeared to concede defeat following Tuesday’s Knesset elections, saying on Wednesday his centrist party was gearing up for a fresh vote in a year, on the assumption Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be forced out of office on corruption charges.

“The 2020 campaign began today,” Lapid told a reporter from Channel 12 news waiting outside his home on Wednesday.

Lapid and Blue and White leader Benny Gantz were expected to give a statement to the press at 7 p.m. at the party’s headquarters in Tel Aviv. It will be their first public comments since Gantz declared victory shortly after voting ended Tuesday night, when a pair of exit polls projected that Blue and White would be the largest party in the Knesset.

With over 97 percent of ballots counted, and his Likud party and fellow right-wing and religious parties poised to secure a clear majority of Knesset seats, Netanyahu emerged from Tuesday’s elections in the best position to muster a coalition. Both  Likud and Blue and White were projected to receive 35 of the 120 Knesset seats, but Gantz’s party had no clear path to cobble together a government.

Lapid’s comments alluded to corruption allegations against Netanyahu, who Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit recommended in February be charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust in a series of criminal investigations.

Before an indictment is formally filed, Netanyahu is entitled to defend himself in a hearing, a process which could take up to a year. Allies of Netanyahu have argued that if he were to be charged, he would not be required to resign as prime minister, though this would likely be challenged in court.

Netanyahu has fervently denied any wrongdoing and claimed the corruption accusations were being pushed by the Israeli left, media and others in order to force him from office by non-democratic means.

Speculation has grown that Netanyahu could use his victory in the elections to advance a law to immunize him from prosecution as long as he remains prime minister. He is reported to be considering conditioning entry to his new government on a potential coalition party’s support for the so-called French law shielding a sitting prime minister from prosecution. Netanyahu has publicly given mixed signals about whether he will seek such legislation.

Earlier Wednesday, a Likud lawmaker launched an exoneration campaign for Netanyahu, arguing the ruling party’s dramatic election victory meant that prosecutors should reconsider pursuing criminal charges against the prime minister and that indicting a victorious Netanyahu would amount to subverting the public will.

The comments by Miki Zohar came as Mandelblit prepared to release evidence in the three probes to Netanyahu’s attorneys.

Mandelblit had agreed to hold off on releasing the evidence until after election day in response to the argument by Netanyahu’s lawyers that it would almost certainly be leaked to the press, hurting the prime minister’s election chances unfairly when he has not yet had his day in court.

Netanyahu will face a hearing ahead of possible indictments in the three cases in the coming three months.

MK Bezalel Smotrich, number two in the new Union of Right-Wing Parties, proposed a bill in early March that would give lawmakers increased powers to block charges against sitting Knesset members, including the prime minister.

Netanyahu has said he has hitherto rejected such efforts to protect him through legislation, telling Channel 12 in late March that he would be saved from prosecution by “the facts themselves.”

“Everything will be thrown out in the hearing. I still haven’t said a word in my defense, a single word … It’s all poppycock,” he said.

Furthermore, according to an existing law, Knesset members can be granted immunity if a majority of lawmakers are convinced the defendant has been treated unfairly and the charges are based on discrimination or a bad-faith effort.