Leadership on trial

(JNS) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is currently on trial for allegations of bribery and/or requests for better press coverage, which could be interpreted as normal official actions of a democratically elected leader.

He is certainly not the first leader to be accused of bribery or corruption while in office.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a similar case back in 2016 when it found, in a unanimous 8-0 decision, in favor of former Virginia Gov. Robert (“Bob”) McDonnell. The U.S. Justice Department had charged McDonnell with corruption for receiving $175,000 in loans and gifts from a local businessman.

As Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the court decision, “The government’s legal interpretation is not confined to cases involving extravagant gifts or large sums of money and we cannot construe a criminal statute on the assumption that the government will ‘use it responsibly.’”

The case against McDonnell was led by government prosecutor Jack Smith, who, as a U.S. special counsel for the U.S. Justice Department, brought criminal charges against former President Donald Trump. Smith alleged that Trump interfered with the certification of the 2020 election results and that he mishandled confidential documents. After those cases were filed, several states even made efforts to remove Trump from their state’s presidential ballots. The U.S. Supreme Court stepped in and overruled those decisions, ordering Trump’s name to be placed back on the ballot.

That case was one of several criminal cases brought against Trump, almost all of which appear to be crumbling. A federal judge in Florida dismissed one case there. Smith announced last month that the government was dropping all charges against Trump in those cases. And, just last week, the Georgia Court of Appeals removed Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from trying a case of election interference against Trump citing appearances of impropriety in the case. Of the criminal cases brought against Trump, only those in New York remain active at this time.

I worked at the Israeli Supreme Court in the summer of 1988 as a volunteer law clerk for Justice Menachem Elon, then-deputy president of the court. My main job was to search for U.S. cases that related to cases in front of the Israeli court.

In the case against Netanyahu, the Israeli court may want to see precedents set by American courts when faced with similar cases against politicians in the United States, such as the case against McDonnell. in which the court rejected the type of bribery allegations that have been made against Netanyahu as a proper criminal charge. Further, the decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court and policies of the U.S. Justice Department if applied to Israel would forbid the criminal trial of a prime minister for actions he took while in office.

The Israeli attorney general and state prosecutors have failed to responsibly use their power in pursuing criminal charges against Netanyahu. These are charges related to either items that the U.S. Supreme Court would deem official acts of a leader or allegations of bribery that do not come close to the allegations against McDonnell.

Just like the criminal charges against Trump hurt the reputation of the U.S. Justice Department, the improper actions by Gali Baharav-Miara—the left-wing, politically motivated Israeli attorney general—and prosecutors are damaging that country’s legal system.   

Pushing forward with the prosecution and requiring the prime minister to testify three times a week for 18 hours a week, despite Israel being in the midst of a multifront war and with negotiations ongoing for the release of 101 hostages being held captive in Gaza, which require the prime minister’s attention is absurd.

The absurdity is even more apparent when you consider that the case, which began several years ago, is expected to last years and not end until 2028 with appeals. Unfortunately for Israel, the Israeli Supreme Court has not stepped in like the U.S. Supreme Court did in Trump’s cases to stop this outrageous situation and, as a result, they have hurt the reputation of the Israeli Supreme Court.

At this critical time, there should be no legal case against Netanyahu as long as he is prime minister. Israel needs to adopt the same policy as the United States and end this terrible legal situation that is hurting the foundations of Israel’s democracy and its reputation as well.