(Reuters) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was charged with bribery, breach of trust and fraud on Thursday, a criminal indictment that plunged Israel deeper into political disarray. The decision announced by Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit was the first of its kind against a serving Israeli prime minister and represented the gravest crisis in the political career of the man popularly known as “Bibi”.Netanyahu, in power since 2009, has dominated Israeli politics for a generation and is the country’s longest-serving leader.
He has denied wrongdoing in three corruption cases, saying he is the victim of a political witch hunt. The indictment posed no immediate threat to Netanyahu’s decade-long hold on power, a grip loosened by-elections in April and September in which neither the right-wing Likud leader nor centrist challenger Benny Gantz secured a governing majority. Netanyahu remains the caretaker prime minister and is under no legal obligation to resign once charged. The opening of a trial could be delayed for months by a possible new election and any moves by Netanyahu to secure parliamentary immunity from prosecution. READ MORE
