Yair Lapid
Yair LapidKobi Richter/TPS

If anyone wanted proof that Bibi cannot serve even one more minute under indictment - he got it tonight. Just before eight o'clock, the Attorney General announced that he had decided to indict Netanyahu. Just before nine o'clock, Netanyahu already embarked on a violent attack of incitement against the entire legal system.

A man charged with fraud, bribery and breach of trust attacks investigators in prime time, in front of the entire nation. Why? Because he can. Because he is not only accused of serious criminal offenses, but is also the man in charge of the IDF, the education system and even the judicial system. The only reason it does not seem crazy and impossible to us is that we have already become accustomed to the madness.

If Netanyahu stays in office, that's how it will be from now on. Missiles from Syria in the morning, a meeting with lawyers in the afternoon. A crisis in the emergency rooms in the evening, immediately followed by an attack on live television of Nir Hafetz's recent testimony. One moment the prime minister is in a suit, the next moment he is a nervous defendant. What is most awful is that we will not know when he is the first option and when he is the second. As Bibi himself put it so well when Olmert was accused: "There is a fear that he will make decisions based on the personal interest of his political survival and not on the interest of the nation, because he is in this deep distress."

This is a sad day for the State of Israel, it is a sad day for me personally. I have known Binyamin Netanyahu for many years. I know his family. There is something discouraging and depressing about having someone you know get in trouble like that. At the national level it is even more discouraging and depressing.

What is even worse is his decision to take everyone down with him. Instead of going to take care of his legal affairs (and return if he is acquitted), he drags the whole country with him into the abyss. If he does not get a hold of himself, it will end in violence.

Until the last two years - in which he was engaged in a dangerous spin - Binyamin Netanyahu devoted most of his life to strengthening the State of Israel. He mentioned it again and again this evening. If he still cares about the state, he has to do one more thing for it: Step down. Save us from the most severe internal crisis in our history, pass the reins on to one of his friends in the Likud, and go to fight for his innocence in court. Any other decision would be devastating for Israeli society, and devastating for him.