Netanyahu government secure ... for now

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April 20, 1997
Web posted at: 10:50 p.m. EDT (0250 GMT)

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Early indications are that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government is secure, at least for the moment, in the wake of a decision by prosecutors not to charge him in an influence-peddling scandal.

The prosecutors announced Sunday that Netanyahu and two others would not be charged in the case. They did say, however, that Shas Party leader and a key ally in Netanyahu's coalition, Aryeh Deri, would be charged.

Netanyahu's comments
"I committed no wrongdoing..."	13 sec 190K AIFF or WAV
"It's politics..."	27 sec 300K AIFF or WAV
"People out to get us..."	25 sec 282K AIFF or WAV

The issue has dominated Israeli politics since January, and some of Netanyahu's allies in his right-wing coalition government said they might leave the government if he were charged.

But two party leaders indicated Sunday that they would stay for the time being.

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"Let me sit with my friends to soon make a decision," said Avigdor Kahalani, the public security minister and head of The Third Way party. "But it sounds like we are going to stay in the government."

Natan Sharansky of Yisrael b'Aliya said his party, too, would remain, but that it would discuss "what we have to do in order to make sure, if this government continues, there will be no cases like this."

Peres calls for new elections

But members of the Shas Party are angry that their leader, Deri, is the only one facing indictment. It was not clear whether they would leave the coalition, but it was very clear that they are not happy. And if they do leave, taking their 10 seats with them, Netanyahu's government will fall.

Also, one of Netanyahu's opponents, Yossi Sarid of the liberal Meretz Party, has indicated that he will ask the Supreme Court to reverse the prosecutors' decision and bring charges against Netanyahu and Justice Minister Tsachi Hanegbi.

Former Prime Minister Shimon Peres, who lost last May's general election to Netanyahu and who has been critical of him since first word of the scandal, said, "The public must hold new elections."

Nevertheless, there are those who think Netanyahu is, as political analyst Gerald Steinberg of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University puts it, "out of the woods."

"I don't see anybody bolting," he told Reuters. "Certainly not a party. He's overcome a crisis and said this was a political process from the beginning to overturn the verdict of the voters."

'I didn't commit any crime'

Netanyahu says the prosecutors' decision, which came in a 75-page report, exonerates him.

"The bottom line is I didn't commit any crime," he said, "and the attorney general confirmed that."

He admitted that he had made mistakes, and he apologized for them. But the uproar over the case, he said, was the fault of the media and his opponents, who cannot accept his narrow victory last year and want to overthrow his government.

State Attorney Edna Arbel said at a news conference that some of the other prosecutors wanted to indict Netanyahu and Hanegbi.

"The investigation raised real suspicions against the prime minister and the justice minister," Arbel wrote in her report. But Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein, sitting beside her, said: "After weighing the evidence we have concluded that we don't have sufficient proof to charge the prime minister."

Ultimately, Arbel agreed, there was enough evidence only to indict Deri. The prosecutors recommended, however, that Netanyahu's aide, director-general Avigdor Lieberman, face further investigation.

Routine political mistakes?

Police issued a report last week recommending that Netanyahu and three others be indicted over the naming of Roni Bar-On as attorney general. An Israeli TV station alleged that in return for Bar-On's appointment, Deri agreed to support Netanyahu's intention to withdraw troops from the West Bank town of Hebron.

The catch, according to the TV station, was that Bar-On was a friend of Deri, who is a political crony of Netanyahu's and who was facing corruption charges. The station alleged that Deri hoped to strike a plea-bargain with Bar-On.

The outcry over Bar-On's appointment was such that he resigned after only 12 hours, but in the wake of the TV report Netanyahu asked the police to investigate.

Their report, 995 pages long, was made public last week, and it recommended that Netanyahu, Deri, Bar-On and Lieberman be indicted.

"If mistakes were made here, they were routine political mistakes that were made by governments in the past," Netanyahu's communications chief David Bar-Illan told Reuters. "But what that has to do with any kind of criminal investigation, or let alone indictment, I don't know."

Reuters contributed to this report.

 

Related stories:

• No indictment for Netanyahu - April 20, 1997
• Reports say Netanayahu won't be indicted, but crisis isn't over - April 19, 1997
• Decision on Netanyahu prosecution due Sunday
• Netanyahu says he won't quit amid Israeli corruption scandal - April 17, 1997
• Police report is 'political earthquake' for Netanyahu - April 16, 1997
• Netanyahu attorney: Police recommend his indictment - April 16, 1997

Related sites:

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• Police: Indict Netanyahu - Jerusalem Post / April 17, 1997
• Police recommend indicting Netanyahu in Bar-On Affair - Jewish Telegraphic Agency / April 17, 1997
• Benjamin Netanyahu - Likud Party site
• The Knesset - Israel's parliament

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