Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not expected to attend the second hearing in his trial set to take place in Jerusalem later today. Instead, his team of solicitors will be dispatched to the court, where they will be negotiating the dates and the terms of their boss's future appearances.
Netanyahu is facing charges of bribery, breach of trust, and corruption in a series of graft probes that include buying positive press and receiving illegal gifts from a rich donor; and for Mossi Raz, a peace activist and a former Israeli parliamentarian for the left-wing party Meretz, the fact that the country's PM is standing trial is a sign of how strong a democracy Israel is.
"On the one hand, it saddens me that our prime minister is corrupt but I am proud of this country that has managed to put him on trial and the civil society that accelerated this process".
Biased Against the PM?
Relations between Netanyahu and the country's liberal circles have always been complicated. It all started in the 1990s, when "Bibi" was the head of the opposition, allegedly inciting violence against then-Prime Minister Itzhak Rabin and the peace deal with the Palestinians he was advocating for.
When Rabin was assassinated and the 1993 Oslo Accords collapsed, prompting a wave of Palestinian terrorism across the country, many pointed the finger of blame at Netanyahu for pushing relations with the PA to an abyss from which they would never be able to recover.
Years later, liberals also blamed him for Israel's expansion activity in the West Bank, where his government built more than 19,000 units over the course of a decade, and for souring ties with Turkey as well as a number of European states.
Scandals surrounding his wife Sara, the corruption claims and, more recently, the raging coronavirus have only aggravated the tensions, pushing the masses onto the streets demanding his resignation.
Last week, dozens of protests were held across Israel. The biggest was staged in Jerusalem in front of the PM's residence, where crowds not only demanded a better response to the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic but also urged the "corrupt" prime minister to leave office.
Dozens of rallies were also held throughout Saturday, with the largest in the centre of Tel Aviv. People there urged the government to introduce a number of reforms to improve their fiscal situation or else to hand over the keys to their government posts.
But Raz says the reality is far more complex that it might seem. "The truth is that the nation is pretty much divided when it comes to Netanyahu. While part of the country sees only the bad things he has done, others emphasise his achievements".
Throughout the years Netanyahu has managed to position himself as a leader who not only stabilised Israel's security, dealing a severe blow to Palestinian militants, but also as a reformer opening up the Jewish state's economy to competition, moving it away from its socialistic structure to a more capitalistic worldview.
On the international arena he has been viewed as a man, who improved Israel's standing in the world, bolstering relations with such superpowers as the US, Russia, and China as well as getting closer to states the Jewish state had no relations with like Chad and Sudan.
Reasons for Bibi's Success
It is for these reasons, believes Raz, that Netanyahu still enjoys the support of the people, despite his legal scandals and the poor management of the pandemic crisis which has subsequently led to the sinking of his approval ratings, going from 75 percent to less than 20 percent.
According to a recent survey, if elections were held today, Netanyahu's Likud would still lead in the polls, gaining some 34 seats and Raz believes part of the reason for his success lies in the PM's ability to squeeze the most out of his failures.
"People still think Netanyahu is corrupt but if he promises them jobs and cash [during the pandemic], they will be voting for him, simply because they believe he is a strong and an experienced leader who will navigate the country through a storm. Others are certain that he will continue to sit in his office, primarily because Israel doesn't have an alternative", said Raz, adding the PM knows to how to market himself.
However, this is not down to just his PR skills. Throughout the entire period leading up to the trial, Netanyahu, who blamed the police, the judiciary, and the mass media for plotting to topple him, managed to gain the support of the masses who strongly believed liberal left-wing circles had joined efforts to get rid of a democratically elected prime minister.
Back then, many took to the streets across the country protesting in favour of the PM and calling on the judiciary to take their hands off Netanyahu.
And this time around, chances are high, believes Raz, that Netanyahu will continue to use his old tricks to make the most out of his legal problems.
"When my colleagues on the left say that Netanyahu's days are numbered, I constantly tell them not to rush to conclusions. Getting rid of him will not be easy. And at the end of the day, it will up to the court's judges".
The only catch is that the trial in which the judges will need to go through thousands of pages of material and hear out more than 300 witnesses will end up taking years and this means that unless Netanyahu falls in the polls, he will continue to stick around.
