Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would not resign. He was charged with breach of trust and fraud in all three corruption cases against him, as well as bribery in one of the investigations, according to a charge sheet released by the justice ministry.The charges announced by Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit were the first of their kind against a serving Israeli prime minister and represented the gravest crisis in the political career of Israel’s longest-serving leader.
Mr Netanyahu, in power since 2009 and before that in the 1990s, has decisively turned the country to the right. He has denied wrongdoing in the three corruption cases, saying he is the victim of a political witch hunt.
Mr Netanyahu is under no legal obligation to resign but the indictment could further embolden challengers after two inconclusive elections since April, with a third expected to be announced in weeks.
Conviction on the charges could bring a long jail term but any trial could be delayed for months by the political crisis, and Mr Netanyahu could try to secure parliamentary immunity from prosecution.
In rejecting the charges, he used the language of his ally, US President Donald Trump.
“It is an attempted coup based on fabrications and a tainted and biased investigative process,” Mr Netanyahu said in a televised speech.
