Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit delivered his indictment against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein on Monday.
The document contains which court Netanyahu should report to as well as a list of witnesses the prosecution plans to call to the stand.
In all three cases in which he is a suspect – Cases 1,000, 2,000, and 4,000 – Netanyahu will be indicted for fraud and breach of trust (under Israeli law fraud and breach of trust is one count).
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In Case 4,000, on top of the count of fraud and breach of trust, Netanyahu will face an additional count of bribery.
In Case 1,000, Netanyahu is accused of receiving gifts worth over $200,000 from friends over an extended period, while Case 2,000 and Case 4,000 both involve alleged attempts by Netanyahu to secure positive media coverage in exchange for political favors.
In Case 4,000 – considered the most serious of the three – Netanyahu is accused of expediting a regulatory change toward the merger of Israel's two largest telecommunications companies, Bezeq and Yes, in exchange for positive coverage on the Walla news portal.
The official submission of the indictment, some two weeks after it was unveiled, triggered a 30-day period under which Netanyahu can seek immunity. Netanyahu would have to formally request the Knesset's House Committee to grant him immunity. Under Israeli law, the committee can grant it if he can prove that his indictment would be of great detriment to the state or if there are other unique circumstances.
It is unclear whether the committee will be able to vote on any such request since the Knesset has yet to formally appoint committee members. There is also the question of whether the Knesset is allowed to deliberate on such matters during a transition period between two governments, as is the current state of affairs.
In a letter enclosed with the indictment, Mendelblit wrote that the document adhered to the Knesset Immunity Law, despite earlier objections raised by Netanyahu's legal team.
"Today, December 2, 2019, will mark the beginning of the 30 days [Netanyahu] may request from the Knesset that the state will grant him immunity," he wrote.
