Netanyahu drops request for immunity from graft charges
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Splash
    • Videos
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Tuesday
June 28, 2022

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Splash
    • Videos
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
TUESDAY, JUNE 28, 2022
Netanyahu drops request for immunity from graft charges

World+Biz

BSS/AFP
29 January, 2020, 10:35 am
Last modified: 29 January, 2020, 10:41 am

Related News

  • Probe body formed over graft allegations against former CCC administrator
  • Ruling party MP Haji Salim lands in jail
  • ACC appeals against HC verdict scrapping Haji Salim’s 3-year jail term 
  • Five NSU trustees sued for Tk304cr embezzlement
  • Chandpur chairman embezzled Tk359cr over univ land acquisition: Probe 

Netanyahu drops request for immunity from graft charges

The court will now set a date for the beginning of the trial.

BSS/AFP
29 January, 2020, 10:35 am
Last modified: 29 January, 2020, 10:41 am
Netanyahu drops request for immunity from graft charges

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that he had dropped his request for parliamentary immunity from corruption charges, in a move likely to speed the opening of his trial.

Following the announcement, just hours before he was to meet President Donald Trump for the unveiling of a long-awaited US peace plan, Israel's attorney general formally filed the charges to the court.

"A few minutes ago I informed the Knesset speaker that I'm withdrawing the immunity request," Netanyahu said on Facebook. "I won't let my political opponents use this issue to disturb the historic move I'm leading."

The Knesset, Israel's parliament had been scheduled to vote on Tuesday morning to convene a committee to debate and eventually rule on the request.

"In this fateful moment for the people of Israel, while I'm in the US on a historic mission to form Israel's final borders and ensure our security for future generations, another immunity circus show is due to open at the Knesset," Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu denies the charges against him and says he is the victim of a politically motivated witch-hunt.

A short while after Netanyahu's surprise announcement, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit presented the charge sheet to the Jerusalem district court, a formality he had refrained from hitherto "to enable a debate on the prime minister's request for immunity from parliament," his office said.

He is charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust for receiving gifts and favourable media coverage in return for regulatory and financial benefits.

The court will now set a date for the beginning of the trial.

His opponents had already mustered a majority in the legislature to deny him immunity.

Labour Party leader Amir Peretz welcomed Netanyahu's announcement.

"It's good the prime minister did what should have been done and gave up on his request for immunity," he told AFP.

"I therefore hope that the prime minister will take the next step and decide to completely resign, go to court as a regular citizen and try to prove his innocence," he said.

'Shame of the century'

Netanyahu's trial could even open before March 2, when Netanyahu seeks reelection in a general election which pits his right-wing Likud against the centrist Blue and White party in what is likely to be a close contest.

Likud and Blue and White were deadlocked in April and September elections, triggering a third general election within a year.

Blue and White leader Benny Gantz, who met with Trump on Monday, said voters should not elect a candidate too busy fighting legal battles to run the country.

"Netanyahu is going on trial," he wrote on Twitter. "Israeli citizens have a clear choice: a prime minister who will work for them, or a prime minister busy with himself."

Netanyahu is to appear alongside Trump to make public the plan to resolve the dispute with the Palestinians, although they say they have not taken part in its drafting and have fiercely condemned it in advance.

Netanyahu, who also met Trump on Monday, praised the president as "the greatest friend that Israel had had in the White House," and described the peace plan as "the deal of the century".

Nitzan Horowitz, head of the left-wing opposition Meretz party, said Netanyahu's impending trial was "the shame of the century".

"The prime minister is indeed making history today, and is accountable for the Shame of the Century – the first serving prime minister standing trial for bribery, fraud and breach of trust," he said in a statement.

Under Israeli law, a sitting prime minister is only required to step down once convicted of an offence and after all avenues of appeal have been exhausted.

Top News

Benjamin Netanyahu / Graft case

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • World Bank to give Bangladesh $18b IDA loans in next five years
    World Bank to give Bangladesh $18b IDA loans in next five years
  • Govt’s bank borrowing jumps in June
    Govt’s bank borrowing jumps in June
  • Energy Division meets stakeholders as govt mulls increasing fuel oil price yet again
    Energy Division meets stakeholders as govt mulls increasing fuel oil price yet again

MOST VIEWED

  • Save energy while the sun doth shine.Photographer: picture alliance/picture alliance/Bloomberg
    Many winters are coming. Start saving energy now
  • Photo: BBC
    At least two dead, 20 injured in missile strike at Ukrainian mall
  • Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks in Kyiv, Ukraine, Mar 7, 2022 in this still image taken from video. Ukrainian President Office/Reuters TV/REUTERS
    Ukraine pleads for air defence as Russia turns sights on Lysychansk
  • Photo: Reuters
    Volatile rouble pares intraday losses as Russia slips into default zone
  • Photo: Reuters
    NATO to massively increase high-readiness forces to 300,000: Stoltenberg
  • Airlines cancel nearly 700 US flights as labor crunch weighs
    Airlines cancel nearly 700 US flights as labor crunch weighs

Related News

  • Probe body formed over graft allegations against former CCC administrator
  • Ruling party MP Haji Salim lands in jail
  • ACC appeals against HC verdict scrapping Haji Salim’s 3-year jail term 
  • Five NSU trustees sued for Tk304cr embezzlement
  • Chandpur chairman embezzled Tk359cr over univ land acquisition: Probe 

Features

Redmi 10C- Best Budget smartphone with one (big) compromise

Redmi 10C- Best Budget smartphone with one (big) compromise

17h | Brands
Photo caption: Bondstein Technologies founders Mir Shahrukh Islam (left) and Zafir Shafiee Chowdhury. Photo: Noor-A-Alam

Bondstein Technologies: From Dhaka College science club to Forbes 30 under 30 list

17h | Panorama
Photo: Collected

Samsung Dryer: Taking clean clothes to a new level

19h | Brands
Transparent sticky notes. Photo: Collected

A new layer to annotations with transparent sticky notes

19h | Brands

More Videos from TBS

The dormant south is ablaze with new possibilities

The dormant south is ablaze with new possibilities

9h | Videos
Russian missiles strike Kyiv

Russian missiles strike Kyiv

10h | Videos
Savings, excess liquidity in banks declining, loan demands increasing

Savings, excess liquidity in banks declining, loan demands increasing

12h | Videos
Photo: TBS

The snakes of Chattogram University

14h | Videos

Most Read

1
Padma Bridge from satellite. Photo: Screengrab
Bangladesh

Padma Bridge from satellite 

2
Desco wanted to make a bold statement with their new head office building, a physical entity that would be a corporate icon. Photo: Courtesy
Habitat

Desco head office: When commitment to community and environment inspires architecture

3
Japan cancels financing Matarbari coal project phase 2
Bangladesh

Japan cancels financing Matarbari coal project phase 2

4
Photo: Courtesy
Corporates

Gree AC being used in all parts of Padma Bridge project

5
Photo: TBS
Infrastructure

Gains from Padma Bridge to cross $10b, hope experts

6
Photo: TBS
Bangladesh

Motorcycles banned on Padma Bridge 

EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2022
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab
BENEATH THE SURFACE
Vehicles ply the Padma Bridge on Sunday marking the beginning of a new era for the country’s southern region. The bridge was inaugurated on 25 June amid much fanfare. PHOTO: MUMIT M

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net