Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lashed out after being indicted on corruption charges Thursday, saying the country is witnessing “an attempted coup.”
“I dedicated my life for the state,” the embattled longtime leader said in a statement from his Jerusalem residence shortly after Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit announced charges of bribery, breach of trust and fraud, according to the Times of Israel.
“I fought for it, was injured for it and am very proud for that. But this is a sad day. One needs to be blind to not see that something bad is happening in the legal system,” Netanyahu said, adding that the indictment stemmed from “false accusations” and a systematically “tainted investigation.”
Netanyahu was unable to form a government after back-to-back inconclusive elections this year, in part because of his legal woes, and a third vote could be held within months.
He claimed the probes were “infected” by ulterior motives based on “selective enforcement on steroids,” as he criticized the timing, saying the announcement comes at the “most sensitive time politically since the establishment of the state.”
Netanyahu also called for an inquiry into the investigators in charge of the probes against him.
“We need to investigate the investigators and the state prosecution which cooks these infected cases,” he said.
Mandelblit rejected the prime minister’s assertions, saying the indictment was a “heavy-hearted decision” that was based only on professional considerations.
He assailed pressure campaigns by Netanyahu’s supporters and foes to sway his decision, which came after months of deliberations.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu’s main political rival said the premier has “no public or moral mandate to make fateful decisions for the state of Israel.”
Former army chief Benny Gantz, the Blue and White party leader, said in a statement that the indictment raises concerns that Netanyahu “will make decisions in his own personal interest and for his political survival and not in the national interest.”
Netanyahu and Gantz — who on Thursday conceded that he failed to form a coalition — were virtually tied after September’s elections and each failed to assemble a majority coalition in parliament.
The country now appears headed into an unprecedented third round of elections in less than a year.
“A sad day for the State of Israel,” Gantz said in a tweet.
With Post wires