Thousands of Israelis marched in a protest Friday in Tel Aviv to call on Prime Minister Netanyahu’s resignation, days after the police recommended he be indicted for bribery and breach of trust. They also called Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit to expedite the procedures of indicting the PM.
The demonstrators hoisted banners calling for the “corrupt to go home,” “let’s sweep away the corrupt,” and “not right, not left – straight.”
Former Police Commissioner Assaf Hefetz was the key speaker at the demonstrations and called upon Netanyahu to step down immediately.
On Tuesday, police recommended that Netanyahu be indicted for bribery, fraud and breach of public trust, in the cases known as Case 1000 and Case 2000.
"There is not one public figure who would have remained in his post with the recommendations of two bribery cases. Bibi must resign,” Hefetz said.
Hefetz also called for support of current Police Commissioner Roni Alsheikh, who has come under criticism by Netanyahu for his handling of the investigations.
Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid renewed his calls for Netanyahu to step down. Regarding the police recommendations to indict Netanyahu, Lapid stated: “The prime minister can resign, take a temporary leave of absence or whatever else he chooses, but he cannot run the country in this manner.”
Speaking at a party meeting, Lapid stated that the PM can't run the country his way where he is focused on his cases and following up with his attorney, instead of dealing with Iranian drones and Russia stepping on Israeli interests in Syria.
Mandelblit, a former Netanyahu ally, will have to decide whether to indict the prime minister.
“We have worked together with full cooperation to turn over every stone and to bring the truth to light,” Mandelblit said, adding: “I recommend being very skeptical about reports of rifts and tension between the various law enforcement bodies.”
He vowed to ignore “all the background noise” and focus solely on establishing the truth.
Several polls have been conducted to determine Israel's stance on the corruption cases.
Israelis were split between 45 percent and 50 percent saying Netanyahu should either resign or temporarily step aside, while between 40 percent and 43 percent think he should stay.
One poll found 48 percent of Israelis think he is either somewhat corrupt or very corrupt.
Some 44 percent poll respondents did not think the investigation was a deliberate attempt to topple Netanyahu. Thirty-eight percent thought it was.
Voters for Netanyahu’s Likud party favored the prime minister with 50 percent saying they believed his denial of the accusations and sixty percent said the investigation was a deliberate attempt to topple him and almost 73 percent, said he should stay in his position.
However, another poll released indicated that the recent recommendations of Israel Police to indict Netanyahu would not have a serious effect on his Likud party or the governing coalition.
If new elections were held, the Likud and five other coalition parties would garner a combined 65 seats.
The Likud would continue to be the largest party in the Knesset, and former Finance Minister Yair Lapid would see his party claim 22 seats, double its current 11.
Jewish Home party would rise to 11, as Arab Joint List would fall a single seat, while Zionist Union party would plummet to 15 seats, down from 24.
An expert on Israeli party affairs stated that polls results indicate Israelis are convinced Netanyahu is corrupt, but there isn't an alternative among the opposition.
