Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday that charges of bribery, breach of trust and fraud brought against him will be decided in court and that he will abide by any court rulings.
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks in a video response to the decision to indict him
(Photo: Screenshot)
"Of course, I want to make it clear that this whole process will ultimately be decided in court," the prime minister said in a video response to Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit's decision to bring charges in the three corruption investigations into the veteran politician who has led the country for more than a decade.
"We will accept the court decision, of that there is no doubt," Netanyahu said in the video Friday. "We will always act - from start to finish - in accordance with the rule of law."
The Blue and White party earlier Friday called on Netanyahu to resign the four ministerial posts he currently holds, citing a Supreme Court precedent.
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Blue and White leader Benny Gantz outside his home in Rosh Ha'Ayin on Friday
(Photo: Moti Kimchi)
Netanyahu struck a more defiant tone Thursday night, lambasting what he called an attempted coup against him.
In a televised speech shortly after the indictment was announced, the 70-year-old prime minister claimed that the investigations against him were tainted by bias, saying the police investigators "weren't after the truth, they were after me."
It is the first time in the nation's history a sitting premier faces a criminal trial and he immediately faced calls to step down.
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Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit discusses his decision to indict Benjamin Netanyahu, Nov. 21, 2019
(Photo: GPO)
"This is a difficult and sad day," Mandelblit told reporters. "Today, I informed the Prime Minister's Office of my decision to indict him on three counts.
"A day when the attorney general decides on an indictment against a prime minister for serious crimes is a difficult and sad day for the public in Israel - and for me personally."
Mandelblit previously served as Netanyahu's cabinet secretary.
Netanyahu has called the corruption charges a witch hunt and repeatedly lashed out at police and prosecutors throughout the investigation.