Speaker of the Knesset in a sharp message to the judges: "Do not allow blatant interference in the elections" • He added: "What began with the search for charges using the successful method - amounted to a precedent-setting charge"
About a day before the resumption of the trial of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Knesset Speaker and senior Likud member, MK Yariv Levin, he issued a poignant message to the judges:
Opening of the second hearing in the Netanyahu trial, July // Photo: Yoni Rickner
In a conversation with Israel Today, Levin says that "a legal system in a democratic state, in contrast to what happens in non-democratic countries, is careful to stay away from any interference in election procedures, but this basic rule has already been trampled on by our legal system. Date A (April 2019), when a few weeks before Election Day, the Attorney General decided to file the letter of suspicion against the Prime Minister, without the Prime Minister being able to respond to these suspicions before going to the polls. "
Levin mentions that the indictment against Netanyahu was also filed only about a month before the last election in March last year - and on the same day that Prime Minister and former President Donald Trump presented the Century Plan in the White House (January 28, 2020).
"It is difficult to ignore the fact that the proceedings against the prime minister repeatedly expose the difficult link of the judicial system," Levin says, adding that "what began with a successful prosecution, continued with witness threats, rendering evidence and conflict of interest, amounted to a precedent-setting indictment, Begin Matters that have little place in the Ethics Committee.
"We are now facing fears of further blatant and unprecedented interference by the judiciary in the election. The prosecution's desire to begin the evidentiary phase immediately and even before the election, must be rejected outright by the court."
The achievement at the ballot box is preserved
It should be noted that there is not necessarily a negative effect of the legal proceedings against the prime minister on his electoral power - and as evidenced by the Likud's greatest achievement was recorded in the last election (36 seats), after the indictment against Netanyahu was filed.
Levin suggests not necessarily relying on this precedent, arguing that if the judges decide to hold the pre-election evidentiary phase, it will be a one-sided field trial, without the prime minister being able to flatten his counter-arguments before the public casts the ballot: "Counter-evidence on behalf of the defense is intended to paint a distorted and unbalanced picture for the public," says Levin.
"What has already happened is enough. The legal process must not continue to be used to provide unilateral evidence to undermine Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Likud's chances of winning the election. A situation in which prosecution witnesses will be heard before the election, while defense witnesses, including the prime minister, will be heard only after the election. "It is an unfair situation that involves blatant and serious interference in the election process. Every decent person expects the court to prevent such a move."