i24 News Former Israeli prime minister Binyomin Netanyahu published a video on Monday where he vowed to remain leader of the Likud Party, stressing that he did not agree to the “moral turpitude” clause of the proposed plea deal.
The moral turpitude clause would have prevented Netanyahu from running for office for seven years.
In his first public comments regarding the plea deal, he rejected media reports that he agreed to the moral turpitude clause.
“Citizens of Israel, in recent days, you’ve proven once again that I’m not alone and that millions of you are with me,” Netanyahu said in the video.
“You’ve deeply moved me. I’ll keep leading Likud and the national camp. The entire public sees what’s happening in court and the investigation against me was led. That should have been enough to close the files against me,” he continued.
“In recent days, a false claim that I had agreed to accept a moral turpitude finding was published, alongside many others. It’s simply untrue.”
Netanyahu is on trial in Jerusalem District Court on charges of fraud, bribery, and breach of trust.
Sources have said that Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit would not agree to a deal without the moral turpitude clause, The Jerusalem Post reported.
{Matzav.com Israel}
It’s high time for Mandelblit to step down. Alan Dershowitz, one of the biggest legal experts in America, had said long ago that this case would not have been brought in any other Western Democracy. Mandelblit should focus on the illegality of the Bennet/Lapid/Kahana government telling the Cheif Rabbis what to do.
Mandelblit‘s term is up in a week and his successor who will be appointed by the anti-Netanyahu block will probably be even worse.