Tweeps Clash Following Bibi’s Decision to Ask for Immunity

By Staff, Agencies

The “Israeli” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not surprise many when he gathered a press conference on Wednesday night and announced that he had requested the Knesset to grant him immunity.

The premier, who has been facing a series of graft probes, says the plea was his legal right and that it was needed for him to "continue to lead ‘Israel’" for the sake of its future.

Netanyahu believes the charges against him, which he denies, were part of a broader left-wing campaign to delegitimize him and remove him from the office that he has occupied for the past eleven years.

While his supporters back the premier's claims, his critics have been quick to respond saying immunity is a tool in the hands of Netanyahu to escape justice.

Yair Lapid, one of the Blue and White party chiefs who is critical of the premier, took to social media to mock the PM.

"Immunity is not a cornerstone of democracy. Rather, [in Netanyahu's case], it is a stone thrown in the head of the democracy".

His fellow party member Benny Gantz, who leads the Blue and White, was also vocal about Netanyahu's plea for immunity.

"We will make corrections to the law of immunity so that it will be impossible to use it to evade criminal offences... we will not allow the parliament to be turned into an asylum for criminals".

“Israeli” law has already been amended once before. In 2005, immunity was given to all “Israeli” parliamentarians in an attempt to protect them from potential persecution while fulfilling their duties. But the legislation that elevated Knesset members above the law was met by criticism from the “Israeli” public. So the law was changed and now offers immunity only to those members of parliament who explicitly ask for it.

Without the formal request, Netanyahu's indictment bill would have landed on the desk of a Tel Aviv court on Sunday. Now, however, since an official request has been filed, it will not happen.

That is, not until the Knesset sets up a special committee – featuring representatives of all parties – to discuss Netanyahu's request. Once this is done and the committee reaches its conclusions, the plea will then transferred to the Knesset's general assembly who will vote on whether the premier should be given immunity.

But there is the catch: the Knesset was dissolved several weeks ago, triggering another general vote, set for early March. The practical meaning of this is that the parliament will not be able to vote on Netanyahu's request until after the upcoming elections and until one of the candidates manages to form a government. Given the fact that no candidate has managed to do it so far, the chances of Netanyahu remaining in power as the entity’s interim prime minister are high.

Twitter users were split, reacting to the news. Some took to the microblogging platform to vent their anger at Netanyahu's conduct. But there were also voices supportive of him.

According to “Israeli” news website Globes, 44% of “Israelis” said their trust in the country's judiciary has soured following the unjust conduct in Netanyahu's cases as well as several other verdicts.

Many have been taken in by Netanyahu's claims staging multiple rallies in support of the premier across the “Israeli” entity and promising to vote for Netanyahu despite the allegations against him.

But that's not the picture depicted in recent polls, according to which Blue and White is leading with 34 seats [out of the 120 seats in the Knesset], with Likud falling two seats behind.

Yet, the majority of the “Israeli” public, some 40%, still believe Netanyahu is more suitable to be the entity’s PM, as opposed to Gantz, who only has 38%.