Light at the End of Netanyahu’s Plea Deal Tunnel

A possible compromise has been proposed to break the stalemate in negotiations for a plea deal for former prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu in his corruption trial.

According to media reports, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit’s insistence that Netanyahu accept a judgment of “moral turpitude,” which would disqualify him from running for office for 7 years, may be deferred to the trial judges at the Yerushalayim District Court.

The other main elements of the deal are said to call for dropping the charge of bribery for the lesser charges of fraud and breach of trust, while saving Netanyahu for jail time, only a few months of community service, according to reports.

Mandelblit fully expects that the judges would impose the “moral turpitude” designation if Netanyahu agrees to the other conditions, Channel 13 reported.

Now 72, a 7-year disqualification from politics would likely mean the end of Netanyahu’s career.

Meanwhile, former Supreme Court president Aharon Barak confirmed that Netanyahu had asked him to speak with Mandelblit about the possibility of reaching a plea deal.

“I won’t deny that when I reached out to Mandelblit, Binyamin Netanyahu’s contribution to the country was always on my mind. He was one of the greatest defenders of the Israeli justice system, until his trial,” Barak told Ynet.

Barak said that in recent months, senior figures in Netanyahu’s Likud party asked him to initiate talks with Mandelblit.

“I asked them if Netanyahu sent them, they denied it,” he said. “I recently received a personal appeal from Netanyahu, and I decided not to remain indifferent.”

According to Channel 12 news, Barak had refused to speak to Mandleblit on Netanyahu’s behalf so long as the appeal did not come from the former premier himself.

Barak also stressed that conviction carrying the formal designation “moral turpitude” must be part of the agreement.

According to the Walla news site, Netanyahu reached out to Barak at least three times via emissaries since 2019, to persuade him to intercede for him with Mandelblit.

Channel 12 news quoted Barak as saying that Netanyahu’s trial was “a special case that requires a [plea] deal, for the sake of healing the rifts in the nation and reducing the level of pressure on the justice system.”

“I will publicly support the [plea] deal when it is signed,” he was quoted by the network as saying.

Former adviser to Netanyahu, Ronny Rimon, was quoted by Arutz Sheva as saying that Netanyahu has given up on ever becoming prime minister again.

“He tried over and over, for successive election cycles, but he just couldn’t manage to form a government, and now that he has realized that his political career has come to an end, he’s most likely going to agree to a plea bargain so that he can limit the fallout from his legal cases.”