Labor to petition High Court to remove Netanyahu from office

“Netanyahu’s indictments are the reason we don’t have a government,” Peretz said. “In a democracy, we cannot accept a prime minister under indictment.”

By LAHAV HARKOV
Labor Party leader Amir Peretz, August 2019 (photo credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI)
Labor Party leader Amir Peretz, August 2019
(photo credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI)
Labor-Gesher leader Amir Peretz instructed his party’s lawyers to petition the High Court of Justice to require Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take a leave of office, after Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit decided to indict him on charges of bribery, breach of trust and fraud.
“Netanyahu’s indictments are the reason we don’t have a government,” Peretz said. “In a democracy, we cannot accept a prime minister under indictment.”
Peretz argued that if Netanyahu is moved out of the way, a government can be formed and a third election in less than a year can be averted.
Leaders of other parties in the religious-Right bloc kept quiet and did not release statements in Netanyahu’s defense for hours after Mandelblit’s announcement.
Netanyahu’s chief rival for the premiership, Blue and White leader Benny Gantz, said that “a prime minister up to his neck in corruption allegations has no public or moral mandate to make fateful decisions for the State of Israel, because there is a concern, whether or not the charges prove to be true...that Netanyahu will make decisions in his own personal interest and for his political survival and not in the national interest.
“This is a very sad day for the State of Israel,” Gantz added.
All four of Blue and White’s leaders slammed Netanyahu.
“Netanyahu cannot continue to serve as prime minister of Israel,” said Yair Lapid. “It is unthinkable that a prime minister will order strikes in Syria at night and fight with witnesses in the morning...And mostly, it is unthinkable that he will drag the entire country down into dangerous depths that will end in an unprecedented internal crisis and even violence.”
Joint List leader Ayman Odeh said that “on the day Netanyahu starts paying for his crimes, we can start fixing the damage caused by his social crimes. The racism and hatred he spread will not disappear with him to Ma’asiyahu [Prison], and it depends on us, Arabs and Jews, to build a society together that seeks peace, democracy and equality that will serve all the citizens of the state.”
The Movement for Quality Government plans to hold a demonstration on Saturday night in Tel Aviv calling on Netanyahu to resign.
The Israeli Left was joined by US Senator Elizabeth Warren, who is running in the Democratic primary, in condemning Netanyahu.
“Netanyahu is accused of accepting bribes, trading government favors and manipulating a free press,” Warren tweeted. “Like his pal [US President] Donald Trump, he’ll stop at nothing to enrich himself and stay in power. This blatant corruption has no place in any democracy – I’ll fight it at home and abroad.”