Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared in court on Monday at the start of his long-awaited corruption trial, while on the other side of the city rival parties began negotiations to try to form a government again after yet another electoral standoff.
Legal and political processes intertwine as Israel struggles with the reality of a prime minister who is under indictment – and has failed to form a stable government in two years – yet still won by far the majority of the votes in the March 23 elections. .
Netanyahu, 71, sat with his arms crossed while prosecutors made their initial statement against him on charges of fraud, bribery and breach of trust. At the heart of the case is the claim that he granted illegal favors to powerful entrepreneurs in exchange for positive media coverage.
“The case before the court of honor today is a significant and serious case of government corruption,” said Liat Ben-Ari, the chief prosecutor. She accused the prime minister of “using the power of his office to promote his personal desires” and said prosecutors would present a “tapestry” of evidence.
Download the NBC News app for breaking news and politics
Netanyahu denies any wrongdoing and denounces the charge as a politically motivated “witch hunt” against him. The prime minister watched the prosecutors ‘opening statement, but left before witnesses’ testimony began.
Dozens of pro and anti-Netanyahu protesters gathered outside the Jerusalem District Court when the trial began. “I came here to support, support and strengthen my great leader,” said Meir Azarzar, a supporter of Netanyahu.
A strong police presence surrounded the building as Netanyahu’s bodyguards entered the courtroom with him. The trial will last three days a week and will probably take weeks before the three-judge panel delivers the verdict. There is no jury.
A few kilometers away, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin began to meet with representatives of the political parties that won seats in last month’s election. The election – Israel’s fourth in two years – ended without a majority for Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc or the opposition coalition determined to oust him.
The role of the president is usually ceremonial. But without a clear election result, it is up to Rivlin to decide who should have the first opportunity to try to form a government.
Even when the process started, Rivlin gave a pessimistic note about the chances of anyone getting the majority.
“At the moment, I can’t see a way to form a coalition,” he said in publicly broadcast comments. He added: “After four election campaigns, democracy has run out.”
If no one is able to form a coalition, Israel will move on to its fifth election since April 2019, continuing a period of unprecedented political chaos in the Jewish state.
The Netanyahu Likud Party came out of the election with 30 seats, making it by far the largest party. But even with the support of several nationalist and religious parties, Netanyahu is still close to the 61 seats it needs for a majority government.
Likud’s delegation to the president was led by Amir Ohana, the justice minister, who noted that more than 1 million Israelis voted for Netanyahu, despite the charges against him. “I think they expressed a high level of trust in him and a lack of trust in others,” he said.
The second largest party after Likud is the centrist Yesh Atid, who won 17 seats. The party leader, former journalist Yair Lapid, has the support of smaller liberal parties, but has failed to unite the anti-Netanyahu coalition under his leadership.
“When we have a prime minister who is now in court defending himself, we need a candidate who works for the good of the State of Israel,” Orna Barbivai, head of Yesh Atid’s delegation, told the president.
Rivlin is due to decide on Wednesday whether to grant the mandate to Netanyahu, Lapid or possibly someone else. The chosen one will have 28 days to try to form a majority government.
In a surprise election turnaround, a small Islamic party called the United Arab List has won four seats and can maintain the balance of power in the next Israeli parliament. Both the Netanyahu bloc and the opposition courted the party in the hope of gaining their support.
However, in the complicated puzzle of Israeli politics, winning the support of an Arab party can alienate other Jewish parties, which means that candidates for leaders can gain support from one direction and lose it in another.