Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will make a public statement Wednesday night at 8:00 p.m., with an announcement that is widely expected to include Netanyahu’s request for immunity from prosecution.
Officials close to Netanyahu have discussed over the past few hours how the Prime Minister should announce his request for immunity, which, if granted by the Knesset, will immediately halt the criminal case against him, freezing the indictments for bribery, fraud, and breach of trust.
Under Israeli law, an MK facing indictment has 30 days from the time the charges list is sent from the Attorney General to the Knesset Speaker to request immunity. If immunity is requested, the Knesset’s House Committee must decide whether to grant immunity, conducting hearings with the MK in question and the Attorney General.
If the House Committee votes to approve the request, the Knesset plenum votes on whether to ratify the request.
The procedure for assessing an immunity request creates special difficulties in the current situation, however, as no House Committee has been formed for the 22nd Knesset, which failed to create a new government, leaving the hold-over caretaker government left from the 20th Knesset.
While Blue and White MK Avi Nissenkorn called on Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein (Likud) to form a new House Committee, in anticipation of Netanyahu’s immunity request, Edelstein said the request would examined only upon Edelstein’s return next week from a trip abroad.