Legal Affairs
Israel’s Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit said, “The Palestinians are seeking to breach the framework agreed to by the parties and to push the court to determine political issues that should be resolved by negotiations and not criminal proceedings.”
The U.S. Justice Department announced an eight-count indictment of an Indonesian businessman and three Indonesian-based companies for violating U.S. sanctions against Iran.
Law professor Eugene Kontorovich said for the first time, the ICC has raised a terror program as a possible war crime; still, that “should not whitewash or smokescreen their bias against Israel and the great unlikelihood that they will take any serious action against the Palestinians.”
Israel’s indicted premier announces that he will vacate the health, welfare, agriculture and Diaspora affairs portfolios, and appoint new ministers following an NGO petition to the Supreme Court.
Palestinian Foreign Affairs Minister Riad Malki said the report was “based on misleading narratives of a political nature ... rather than an objective and accurate description of the relevant facts.”
More than 100 Democratic lawmakers sent a letter to U.S. Secretary Mike Pompeo, expressing “strong disagreement” with the State Department’s new policy and urged him to “reverse this policy decision immediately.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu now has 30 days to convince the Knesset’s House Committee, which currently has no members, to grant him immunity from prosecution.
“It would be far-reaching judicial activism to establish that the president cannot give the mandate to form a government to someone who the citizens of the country vote for, assuming that they vote in high numbers of Netanyahu,” said Professor Yedidia Stern of the Israel Democracy Institute.
As many as 15,000 Israelis, but almost no senior Likud lawmakers, attended the event prompted by indictments against the prime minister.
The Palestinian Authority closes schools to encourage students to take part in mass protests • Israel Defense Forces deploy extra officers to help ensure protests don’t spark wider clashes.
The letter, which was authored by Rep. Andy Levin (D-Mich.) and signed by 107 Democrats, expressed “strong disagreement” with the State Department’s new policy and urged Pompeo to “reverse this policy decision immediately.”
Under Israeli law, there are no requirements for a sitting prime minister to resign if they are under criminal indictment. However, other public officials, including cabinet ministers, are required to step down.
