According to Army Radio political correspondent Michael Hauser Tov, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit on Sunday set up a work team to decide questions regarding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu which arise as a result of his indictments.
-היועמ״ש הקים צוות עבודה כדי להכריע בשאלות בעניין נתניהו, ובראשן האם יוכל להרכיב ממשלה גם בעתיד. פגישה ראשונה כבר היום.
-ברצונו של מנדלבליט להגיע למסקנות עד לסוף השבוע.
-בצוות: היועמ״ש, פרקליט המדינה שי ניצן, המשנה החוקתי נזרי, המשנה הציבורית זילבר וככל הנראה ראש מחלקת הבג״צים.— מיכאל האוזר טוב (@HauserTov)
The most important of these questions, according to Hauser Tov, is whether Netanyahu is eligible to form a new government considering the fact that he faces criminal charges.
Israel’s constitutional law recognizes the right of a sitting prime minister who faces such charges to continue serving until the courts issue a final verdict in his case – but the same law has nothing to say about the right of an individual who is already facing criminal charges to cobble a coalition government.
Hauser Tov says the committee’s first meeting is taking place Sunday, and Mandelblit wants answers by the weekend.
Here’s the fun part: other than AG Mandelblit himself, some members of the committee to decide Netanyahu’s fate include his and the right’s worst enemies:
State Attorney Shai Nitzan, Deputy AG Raz Nazri, Deputy AG Dina Zilber (who was banned from Knesset committee meetings by then Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked), Anner Helman, director of the state prosecution’s High Court Dept, and presidential residence’s legal counselor Udit Corinaldi-Sirkis.
Responses to Hauser Tov’s tweet including a recommendation to include the legal counsel of the New Israel Fund. Indeed, if this rumor is real the nation would say farewell to Mr. Netanyahu by this coming Shabbat, Parshat Toldot.