Report: Mandelblit Wants Plea Deal for Fear Netanyahu Could Regain Power

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit has been negotiating a possible plea bargain with opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu primarily out of concern that the current coalition may collapse and the former prime minister could return to power before his trial is completed, according to associates quoted in a Friday report.

According to a Friday report by Haaretz, a fear of this situation occurring and Netanyahu becoming prime minister again is the reason the attorney general has entered into negotiations for a plea deal that could potentially see a “moral turpitude” clause that would bar the opposition leader from political life for seven years.

Mandelblit’s reported willingness to sign a plea deal is not because he fears the indictment he brought against Netanyahu is weak; indeed, Mandelblit is reportedly convinced that if the trial runs its course, Netanyahu will be convicted and imprisoned.

And Mandelblit is wary of a situation in which a former prime minister, still widely admired by swathes of the population, goes to jail, the report said. However, the report said, his concerns about Netanyahu serving prison time are not the main reason behind the push for a deal.

Rather, the report said, “Mandelblit fears if the shaky government collapses, and Netanyahu returns to power, he would make fundamental changes to Israel’s democracy that would enable him to escape justice and leave Israel with a system of governance similar to Poland and Hungary.”

Since reports of the negotiations emerged earlier this month, they have generally said that Mandelblit has been demanding that any plea deal with Netanyahu include a clause of “moral turpitude.”

This requirement was underlined on Thursday by Deputy State Attorney Shlomo Lamberger, who made the first public remarks by a senior justice official on the offer, telling a conference held by the Israel Bar Association that it would be “inconceivable” for a plea deal not to include the clause.

However, according to a report on Friday, Mandelblit initially offered Netanyahu a far more lenient plea deal in his corruption trial than the one currently being discussed, but backed away due to a flood of pressure from key figures in the prosecution.

Netanyahu would reportedly only have had to commit to stepping away from public life for two years, with the charges also being significantly lowered in two of the cases against him and dismissed in the third.

Netanyahu is on trial in three separate graft cases: for fraud and breach of trust in Case 1000 and in Case 2000, and for bribery, fraud and breach of trust in Case 4000. Under the reported potential deal, the bribery charge in Case 4000 would be dropped, and Case 2000 would be closed altogether.

The reports have listed Mandelblit’s current conditions for an agreement as follows: Netanyahu admits to fraud and breach of trust in cases 1000 and 4000; he accepts the designation of moral turpitude; he will be sentenced to seven to nine months of community service; and he admits to having instructed former Communications Ministry director Shlomo Filber to provide benefits to the controlling shareholder of the Bezeq media company, Shaul Elovitch — the main accusation against the former prime minster in case 4000.