there was of course the runaway media, with hours of direct and his comments all-round. Yet, Sunday, may 24th, the opening day of the trial of Benjamin Netanyahu for corruption, fraud and breach of trust, it’s a cliché and a discourse that have created the surprise. The photo, first of all : it was taken in the court before the commencement of the hearing. We see Benjamin Netanyahu, without a mask, surrounded by several ministers, the faithful among the faithful, mouth stitched. Because, Covid-19 forces, they wear the famous blue mask surgical. All, standing in a compact group, they listen, without flinching, their First minister, who, in front of the camera, accuses him : “The left and the media whose only desire, he said, is [the] reverse, [to him] and the camp of right, in defiance of the will of the people “. Then comes the turn of police officers and prosecutors who “have conspired, invented these crazy accusations” against him and decided ” this trial is delusional “. A conspiracy whose aim is not only to bring about its own downfall, but also to thwart its intent is to prevent any dismantling of israeli settlements in the west bank.

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As in echo, outside, street-Salah-A-Din, Jerusalem, where the district court, several hundred of his supporters, sometimes from very far away, chant slogans whose point in common is their love for “Bibi” and their hatred of the judges and prosecutors. They are also many those who are returning to a tweet of Yair Netanyahu, the eldest son. He described his father as a ” new Dreyfus “. Finally, this was the hearing, which only lasted fifty minutes. Next appointment : on the 26th of July. It will, once again, a hearing is purely technical. The Prime minister should appear before the judges at the beginning of 2021. The date remains to be set.

already, as we know, this trial promises to be very long. Some experts speak of several years until the verdict. If only because of the number of witnesses expected to be called to the bar : 331. A parade is not scheduled to begin, in the best case, at the end of the next spring. And then he will have to reckon with the will of the defence to drag things out, as far as possible. Without laughter, an expert has not excluded that it may lead to a new election of Benyamin Netanyahu, in three or four years… But, and this must be remembered : by this process, the israeli justice shows that no-one is above the law, not even the First minister.

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Still, the task ahead was difficult for the judicial system. Professor of law emeritus, Mordehaï Kremnitzer has made the analysis in the daily newspaper Haaretz. For him, the strategy of Netanyahu is clear. “First, send a message to his judges : “With my ministers, we are on the same line : I am a victim of a sting operation. And woe to you if you do not follow this line. We will pay for our accounts with you.” The other goal : to rally the public around the premise “we are all Netanyahu ; we are all on the bench of the accused”. “What,” says professor Kremnitzer, ” is to launch the court challenge : “are you Going to judge half the country ?” “

“It’s them or us”

To Yaakov Katz, the Jerusalem Post, this strategy is very dangerous : “In turning his trial into an equation binary :” them or us “, Benyamin Netanyahu is trying to create a narrative according to which the trial has not for its object the corruption of which he is accused, but, in reality, the fact that he is the leader of the right. And trace there a clear line between those who support it and its opponents. A rhetoric that could undermine the foundations of any democracy, especially in a country like Israel that does not have a constitution, and where the separation of powers is often tenuous. “

But it is also necessary to mention the point of view of the great american lawyer, Alan Dershowitz. Referring to the channel I24, the indictment, this close to the israeli Prime minister says : “Israel should be ashamed ! It is the first country in the world to prosecute a political leader in search of favourable coverage in the media… This can not be considered a crime. “This is one of the issues that will need to meet the three judges of the district court of Jerusalem.

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