JERUSALEM (AP) – Israel’s president on Tuesday gave Benjamin Netanyahu the difficult task of trying to form a government out of the country’s fragmented parliament, giving the warlord the chance to extend his long tenure while on trial. Due to corruption charges.
In his announcement, President Reuven Rivlin acknowledged that no party leader has the necessary support to form a 120-seat majority coalition in the Knesset. He also noted that many believe Netanyahu is unfit to serve in light of his legal problems.
Nevertheless, Rivlin said there is nothing in the law that prevents Netanyahu from serving as prime minister. After consulting with the 13 parties in the newly elected parliament, Rivlin said Netanyahu has the best chance for any candidate to form a new government.
“No candidate has a realistic chance of forming a government that will have the confidence of the Knesset,” Rivlin said. But, he added, Netanyahu has a ‘slightly greater chance’ of being able to.
“I decided to entrust him with the task,” said Rivlin from Jerusalem. Rivlin added that the choice “was not an easy decision on a moral and ethical basis.”
With this, Rivlin brought to light the twin dramas about the future of the country and the fate of Netanyahu, which gave the longest-serving prime minister of Israel a new chance to try to save his career. Netanyahu now has up to six weeks to try to form a coalition during his trial.
Early reactions from the prime minister’s sworn rivals highlighted the difficult road ahead.
Yair Lapid, leader of the party that won the second highest number of seats, acknowledged that the law left Rivlin ‘no choice’, but in the same tweet denounced the development as “a shameful disgrace that tarnishes Israel. ‘
A court ruling can be months or even years away. The proceedings are expected to take place up to three days a week, an embarrassment and time-consuming distraction that will overshadow Netanyahu’s appeal to his opponents.
Netanyahu has the most support – 52 seats – in Israel’s Knesset. But there is not yet a 61-seat majority. He is likely to use his persuasive powers to try to lure a number of opponents, including a number of former close assistants who have promised never to serve under him again, with generous offers from powerful government ministries or legislative committees.
Parties representing 45 members supported Yair Lapid, while Yamina, with seven seats, nominated its own leader, Naftali Bennett. Three parties with a total of 16 seats made no recommendation.
Rivlin’s decision brings together questions about Netanyahu’s legal and political future in perhaps the biggest political challenge of his career.
In court, he is facing three counts of fraud, breach of trust and bribery in three separate cases. Proceedings resumed on Tuesday, although the prime minister was not expected to appear in court.
A key witness saw Netanyahu on Monday as an image-obsessed leader who forced a prominent news website to help his family and smear out his opponents.
Netanyahu has denied all charges and has accused national prosecutors of prosecuting him in an attempt to oust him.
“This is what a coup attempt looks like,” he said.
Monday’s court hearing focused on the most serious case against Netanyahu, in which he is accused of promoting regulations that provided hundreds of millions of dollars to the Bezeq telecommunications company, in exchange for positive coverage on the popular news website Walla.
Ilan Yeshua, the former editor-in-chief of Walla, described a system in which the owners of Bezeq, Shaul and Iris Elovitch, repeatedly put him under pressure to publish favorable things about Netanyahu and smear out the prime minister’s rivals.
The explanation he gave by the couple? “This is what the prime minister wanted,” he said.
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Kellman reports from Tel Aviv, Israel.
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