The streets
The people didn't take to the streets. They heard details from the attorney general's report. Some of them believed it and still didn't want to march; others thought that Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit simply hadn't been able to stand up to the immense power of the Left which supposedly forced him to agree to an indictment on charges of bribery in one of the cases. But Coalition Chairman MK David Amsalem's somewhat frightening remark, that millions would take to the streets if Netanyahu would face trial, never came to pass.
A total of 300 people demonstrated in Tel Aviv, and they were calling on Netanyahu to resign. They gathered in Habima Square and marched toward King George Street, where they met up with a few dozen protesters who were out to show support for Netanyahu. If it hadn't been for the Border Police who separated the groups, a civil war might have erupted, but it was prevented at the last minute.
Netanyahu's speech after the attorney general's announcement last week proved that he hasn't forgotten his oratorical skills, not even at a tough moment like this. As usual, he spoke and left the stage – no questions. Benny Gantz, who is running against him, has adopted the same approach. To his traditional press-less conference, Bibi has added harsh attacks on senior state officials and personal attacks on two senior figures in the State Attorney's Office, Shai Nitzan and Liat Ben-Ari. The fact that they did not choose to strike until he apologized is astonishing.
The funds
True, some of the suspicions against Netanyahu have to do with Netanyahu receiving funds from foreign citizens. He even tried to have foreigners contribute to his legal defense. It's also true that he is by no means an impoverished prime minister and that members of the government are "discriminated against" in that ordinary people are allowed to have other people pay their defense costs, whereas government ministers need special approval to dip into someone else's wallet. But because we're talking about a situation for which there is no precedent – impending indictments announced against a sitting prime minister – I think that if we're talking about a transparent process in which everyone knows who is helping him financially, to what extent and what their relationship is, we could have allowed the prime minister to accept help from friends. Opposing that seems somewhat petty.
The cooling-off period
The attorney general might have been right, and the "cooling off" law that prohibits IDF officers at the rank of major-general or above from running for the Knesset for a period of three years after they leave the army does not apply to the respected Maj. Gen. Tal Russo (No. 2 on the Labor list). But either way, there is a problem, because even after he was no longer in the army, Russo served as commander of the Depth Corps, even if he did so as a reservist.
Legislators were right in preventing the IDF's top commanders from identifying with political parties just before they leave the army, so that their actions and statements will not stem from political considerations. The 21st Knesset would do well to pass an amendment to the law that would spell out that it applies to extended military service after a formal discharge, too.
The right step for Mozes
Anyone who reads the attorney general's report can't help but feel chills at the part that discusses the bizarre conversations Netanyahu is suspected of holding with Yedioth Ahronoth publisher Arnon "Noni" Mozes. One thought to record them, thereby incriminating himself, while the second – who dares to put out "the country's newspaper," as if it weren't biased toward any side and brought the public the exact information – offers to keep Netanyahu in the prime minister's seat through favorable coverage on the condition that a certain newspaper [Israel Hayom], which he believed Netanyahu controlled, reduced the distribution of its weekend edition.
To Mozes' credit, it must be said that he never kept his newspaper's senior correspondents from reporting their demand that he recuse himself from the position of managing editor until the case could be clarified. He would win more sympathy if he did as they suggested.
