Mordechai Kedar, a professor of Arabic and Middle East Studies at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University, told The Media Line that he is not surprised that a plea bargain is on the table in the corruption cases against former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, which Kedar says are “almost totally baseless.”
While a deal could keep Netanyahu out of prison, it is not yet clear whether he will sign a plea bargain that assigns moral turpitude to any of the cases, which would bar Netanyahu from politics for seven years, effectively ending the 72-year-old’s political career. If that is the case, Kedar says, the current government likely will be dismantled and a more conservative right-wing government formed.
The Media Line’s Mohammad Al-Kassim spoke with Kedar on Tuesday.