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"Stop the coup" was the name of a demonstration held in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, November 26, in support of Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu. The head of the Israeli government was indicted last week for fraud, breach of trust and corruption in three separate cases. Denies him these accusations and denounces an attempt to overthrow him. And it is with this watchword that he tries to mobilize his supporters.
of our correspondent in Jerusalem,
An hour after the announcement of his indictment by the Attorney General, Benyamin Netanyahu made a televised speech in which he presented himself as a victim. The investigations targeting him are biased and based on false allegations, the head of the government assures. In his eyes, they aim to " overthrow a right-wing prime minister," a prime minister who has not been beaten in the polls for ten years.
►Also read: Accused Benyamin Netanyahu in Israel: a political earthquake
Benyamin Netanyahu refers to the media and magistrates as responsible for this indictment. He even mentions two prosecutors in charge of these files and calls for the opening of an " investigators' investigation". And his supporters repeat these accusations. " The judicial system is the victim of a conspiracy of the left and the media, " said Tuesday evening during the demonstration Miki Zohar, a member of Likud, the party of Benyamin Netanyahu. Some protesters carried placards calling for the arrest of the two prosecutors targeted by the prime minister.
Many critics
But this defense strategy earned him many critics, from the opposition first. Its main rival, Benny Gantz , judges that " in a healthy democracy, everyone has the right to express his opinions freely ". " But in a healthy democracy , he continues, a Prime Minister would not organize a demonstration against the judicial system he presides ".
The Attorney General also severely criticized these attacks. " I hear threats, lies, unfounded denigration: it's a shame, " said Avichai Mandelblit. And for this high magistrate, it is also " inconceivable " that the two prosecutors criticized are now forced to move with bodyguards. Among the opponents of Benyamin Netanyahu, some denounce a climate of fear and many go so far as to parallel the situation of 1995, the months that preceded the assassination of then Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabbi.
A strategy that does not please everyone
But the strategy of Benyamin Netanyahu does not please everyone on the right, the very camp of the prime minister. And the demonstration of Tuesday, November 26 has also highlighted. The number of demonstrators is estimated at 5,000 by the Israeli press, which is not even when the Likud had set up buses from several cities in the country. The Prime Minister's Office had also invited the Likud MPs and ministers to come, but only three out of 32 MPs had made the trip.
Since his indictment, the authority of Benyamin Netanyahu is openly challenged only by a single Likud cadre. He has so far managed to keep the unity of the party around him. But according to Israeli public radio, several executives have openly expressed their reluctance to his strategy, asking him to stop his attacks on the judicial system, fearing that this will ultimately harm the party. And yesterday Wednesday, in a video, Benyamin Netanyahu thanked his supporters but said " we respect the law and the courts ."