After Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit announced on Thursday the counts on which he plans to indict Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in three cases of suspected corruption, leader of the Blue and White list Benny Gantz made a public call for Netanyahu to resign.
"Benjamin Netanyahu, I am asking you here, tonight, to come to your senses, show responsibility to the country, and resign from your position. When and if your innocence is proved, you can return to the public sphere with your head held high," Gantz said Thursday.
Gantz stressed that his party joining a government under Netanyahu was "not on the horizon."
"Mr. Netanyahu, you have the power to stop this danse macabre," Gantz said, adding that "today, you have chosen to follow a path that is inappropriate for a prime minister of Israel."
The Likud issued a response to Gantz's remarks.
"Every person is entitled to the presumption of innocence, Gantz too, and we hope that he will clear his name as soon as possible from the serious charges against him." The Likud was referring to allegations that surfaced on Thursday that when Gantz was in high school, he exposed himself to female students.
Earlier, the right-wing parties took a stance in support of Netanyahu. The New Right put out a statement that "Netanyahu is presumed innocent, just like any other citizen in the country. We will recommend to the president that he entrust him [Netanyahu] with forming the next government."
The Sephardi ultra-Orthodox party Shas said, "As we announced from the beginning, we will support Netanyahu and only Netanyahu for prime minister and will recommend to the president that he be the one to form the next government."
United Torah Judaism also reiterated its support of Netanyahu: "The law gives Netanyahu the presumption of innocence, and as long as the law allows, we will support him."
The Union of Right-Wing Parties said: "Every person, even Benjamin Netanyahu, is innocent until proven guilty, and after the election we will recommend Netanyahu as a candidate to put together a strong, stable right-wing government."
Coalition chairman MK David Amsalem said in response to Mendelblit's announcement that "every has been smeared across all the papers for the past three years. Today, too, we're talking about three bizarre cases, invented by the Left, for which no democratic country would date investigate a sitting prime minister."
Labor party chairman Avi Gabbay said that "Netanyahu is embarrassing Israel. He's destroying everything to save himself. Netanyahu, resign."
