MK Hazan: Netanyahu should take temporary leave of absence
The prime minister should 'step aside' and 'sit down with the attorney general to try and find a way out of this entanglement,' MK Oren Hazan says, because 'the Likud movement is paying and is going to pay a very heavy price in light of all of the affairs converging around it.'
"A year ago, I said that if an indictment is filed against the prime minister, he would have to take a leave of absence, and the Likud movement, which received a mandate to lead the country, would have to appoint someone else from among its members," Hazan told Ynet. "Today, I say the prime minister needs to step aside at this time and take care of his issues."
Hazan stressed that he only expects the prime minister to take a temporary leave of absences "during which he will clear his name. If he comes out not guilty - he'll return to his seat. If not - he will leave it and pay the price."
The Likud MK said Netanyahu "at this time, should think over things and reconsider the direction he's heading in. Call the attorney general, sit down with him, and try to find a way out of this entanglement."
"The reality is that the Likud movement is paying and is going to pay a very heavy price in light of all of the affairs converging around it," he explained.
"If the movement doesn't know how to clean itself up, to cast out anyone who made a mistake—those convicted, of course, I'm not talking about speculations, but about those who touched corruption and public money—the movement, and it alone, will pay the price," Hazan asserted. "The Likud movement is my home. I'm concerned for it, I fear for it, and I won't let anyone bring it down."
Hazan claimed that while he's the only one to express these views aloud, "I'm not a lone voice in the Likud."
In light of recent developments, including police recommendations to indict Netanyahu in cases 1000 and 2000, the open investigation into Case 4000 alleging benefits to Bezeq in return for favorable coverage of the prime minister, and a new investigation into claims a district court judge was offered the position of attorney general to drop a case against the prime minister's wife, Sara, the Likud commissioned a poll.
The poll, done by the Geocartography Institute on Monday, found that if elections were held now, the Likud would win 34 seats—four more than it currently has. Yesh Atid would rise to 20 seats, while Bayit Yehudi would jump to 14. The Zionist Union would drop to 12 and Shas would not pass the election threshold.
In response to the poll, Netanyahu quoted from Exodus 1:12: "The more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad."
