Time to Step Down, Mr. Prime Minister

By DAVID MERHAV
 The recent Bezeq affair related to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu requires the coalition parties in Israel to decide how to end the tenure of the Mr. Netanyahu as soon as possible. It is evident that the Attorney General, Mr. Mandelblit, won’t be able to close the files against the Prime Minister and, in contrary to those who doubt his honesty, it is quite clear that the Attorney General would not refrain from indicting Mr. Netanyahu as the charges against him are so severe. Now, it is the duty of Finance Minister, Moshe Kahlon, and Education Minister, Naftali Bennet, to decide in which way to wish to bring an end to this miserable farce. The Prime Minister, who is exposed as a man who stained his honorable job, should be removed from his office now. It is not a matter of indicting him before his trial began; it is about saving the country from an ongoing humiliation where its leader is busy in defending what seems to be a despicable and criminal behavior. 
Although the best way to remove the Prime Minister is offering him a good deal where he will be stepped down in return to closing the files against him, it seems that Mr. Netanyahu won’t accept any deal and is determined to fight for his innocence in the court of law. That’s OK and it is his right, but Israel deserves more and better than a Prime Minister who is busy in defending himself rather than his country. The question, of course, is who will replace Mr. Netanyahu. There is no need to call for general elections in order to bring his tenure to its end; in fact, the Likud, pressed by the other coalition parties, can certainly find someone like the Knesset speaker, Yuli Edelstein, to serve as a good replacement. There is reason to drag Israel to expensive elections just because the Prime Minister wishes to fight against the police charges. 
 
In addition to finding a person to replace Mr. Netanyahu, the rightwing parties must think of how they can offer a genuine alternative to their rivals in the centrist parties led by Yair Lapid and Avi Gabbay. Thus, it’s about time that Mr. Naftali Bennet will decide if he wishes to go on with his promise to challenge the Likud in the day after Netanyahu and run for the Prime Minister’s post. In a situation where the Right and the Left will propose two clear alternatives, Israel will be able to hold elections based upon serious polemic instead of placing Netanyahu’s interests in the center of the political debate. Israel, which is heading towards a bi-national state in the best scenario, or towards Apartheid state in the worse one, must be given the possibility to determine its own fate. It is the interest of all political parties to stop Mr. Netanyahu’s undignified campaign against the police and move the country towards a better future. Without preventing the Prime Minister from carrying forward his adventuristic campaign against the police, and maybe later against the Attorney General, Israel might be led by the Prime Minister to undesirable elections which won’t do any good for the country