"ALL CAPS IN DEFENSE OF LIBERTY IS NO VICE."

Sunday, March 08, 2020

Gantz and Liberman are trying to steal the election

Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the offensive case of Benny Gantz and Avigdor Liberman now trying to get him disqualified after they failed to find significant success in this week's election:
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu sharply attacked Blue and White chairman MK Benny Gantz and Yisrael Beyteinul chairman Avigdor Liberman on Thursday for their support of a law that would prevent the president from imposing the job of forming a government on Netanyahu. "The Likud and the Right won the knockout. Gantz who failed in the polls now together with Lieberman is trying to steal the decision of masses of citizens in Israel who gave the Likud led by me a crushing victory. Erdogan has a lot to learn from them," Netanyahu said.

"Even in Iran this doesn't occur. There candidates are rejected before the elections, not after the elections. And after all, the masses of civilians knew full well what the charges were against me and yet they gave me the mandate, a strengthened and renewed mandate," Netanyahu said

The prime minister cited statements by Liberman and Gantz from the past. "Liberman declared "I will not support a law that would prevent an MK from being charged with forming a government. We are against personal laws. ' Gantz declared 24 hours before the election, "We will not sit down with the joint list and will not lean on them from outside."

Netanyahu asked: "Who are you working for? We, the millions of citizens of Israel are not going to allow you to steal the election.''
So once again, those concerned are going to have to start making themselves heard, in order to deal with this new, serious problem. For now, the Likud's ideally called for an investigation into Liberman's past shady dealings:
The Likud party on Thursday called for a probe of Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman after he announced earlier in the day that he would support legislation that could prevent Likud’s Benjamin Netanyahu from becoming prime minister. Liberman is also intending to endorse Blue and White leader Benny Gantz for the prime ministership, according to Hebrew media reports Thursday that he neither confirmed nor denied.

Likud officials formally asked Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit to open a corruption investigation into Liberman for his alleged role in the “Yisrael Beytenu affair.”

The affair, dubbed by police “Case 242,” involved a sprawling three-year corruption investigation of several Yisrael Beytenu officials. It was one of the most far-reaching public corruption cases in Israel’s history, and revealed allegations of a widespread kickback scheme involving national and local politicians, as well as non-governmental organizations and private firms. [...]

In a statement, Likud demanded that Mandelblit “examine and if necessary investigate” an alleged meeting between Liberman’s two sons and a real estate developer, Moshe Yeshayahu, some time before the defense ministry, led by Liberman, rezoned land owned by the developer from a firing zone to an area where construction was permitted.

Likud claimed the former defense minister has been implicated in the case by testimonies now being heard at the ongoing trial involving former lawmakers from the party.
I think this is definitely something authorities should look into, and Liberman has a lot to answer for after all the trouble he's been causing.

Update: here's an article by former MK Dov Lipman about how Blue & White failed in their campaign.