How Netanyahu’s Indictment Impacts Israeli Elections

FEATURING HUWAIDA ARRAF – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been indicted on charges of corruption, bribery and fraud, throwing the longtime incumbent leader’s political future into question. It is the first time that a sitting Prime Minister has been charged in this manner. The New York Times summarized that the charges stem from, “allegations of giving or offering lucrative official favors to several media tycoons in exchange for favorable news coverage or gifts worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

The charges come at the same time that Israel is getting ready to hold an unprecedented third election this year after failing to form a government for the second time. Netayahu’s main rival Benny Gantz and others have called on him to resign in the wake of the charges but a defiant Netanyahu has decided to remain in power and called the charges a “coup.”

Huwaida Arraf is currently the Palestine and Refugees correspondent for Rising Up With Sonali. She’s Palestinian American lawyer and human rights activist, and co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement. She is also the former Chair of the Free Gaza Movement.