JERUSALEM — By turns angry and choked up, sneering and defiant, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a lengthy, emotional response Thursday night to the decision by Israel’s attorney general to indict him on bribery and other corruption charges.

He spoke on national television in prime time, his voice breaking when he alluded to the trial of his wife, Sara, on charges that she misused about $100,000 of state funds, and to their son Yair, a right-wing provocateur on social media. They were also investigated, but the attorney general said neither would be charged.

Here are excerpts from Mr. Netanyahu’s remarks, and what we think he meant by them.

TEXT “Citizens of Israel, last night I met in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin. I made it clear to him that we would continue to act with all our might against Iran’s attempts to entrench itself militarily in Syria. I thank my friend, President Putin, who accepted my remarks. When I returned to Israel I heard this morning the words of support for me by U.S. President Donald Trump. He praised, and I quote, my strong, intelligent and resolute leadership of the State of Israel. I thank my friend, President Trump, for his remarks …. That unique relationship with the leaders of the world powers isn’t a trifling matter. It isn’t self-evident. I’ve been building it for many years, and it has helped me ensure our security and our future. It’s helped me safeguard our country.”

SUBTEXT The presidents of the United States and Russia are my friends, and no one running against me can say that. It’s taken me years to build those relationships. Don’t throw them away. I am keeping you safe.

TEXT “Now, the left knows that they can’t defeat us at the ballot boxes with those kinds of achievements. And that’s why for three years they’ve been engaged in political persecution against us …. They mounted a thuggish, incessant campaign of pressure — I’d say almost inhuman — on the attorney general …. Now, since the attorney general is only flesh and blood, the left wing’s pressure succeeded.”

SUBTEXT The attorney general is weak. A stronger man would have dropped the case long ago.

TEXT “Each and every citizen understands that this timing is scandalous, and that it’s designed to topple the right from power and to put the left in power. There isn’t any other explanation.”

SUBTEXT Let’s forget that I moved the elections up early with this timing in mind.

TEXT “I know that the overwhelming majority of the Likud voters, whose intelligence the media incidentally underestimates, I know that the overwhelming majority won’t be influenced at all.”

SUBTEXT The people out to defeat me think you’re not smart enough to make up your own mind.

TEXT “In this witch hunt against me, they’ve balked at nothing. They’ve spilled and continue to spill my wife’s blood. They’ve been persecuting my son. They’ve put my family for the past three years through seven circles of hell.”

SUBTEXT My family and I are the real victims here.

TEXT “They aren’t talking about money. They aren’t talking about envelopes. They aren’t talking about cash. They’re talking about two and a half articles in Walla, out of an ocean — not a sea — an ocean of hostile articles against me. It’s absurd …. Who is the first person in history to be accused of bribery for positive coverage? Me, Benjamin Netanyahu. The most maligned person in the history of Israeli media.”

SUBTEXT They’re out to get me. If I was bribed with good press, how come nobody noticed it?

TEXT “The choice was and remains simple, razor-sharp: a weak left-wing government of Lapid and Gantz, [his main opponents, Benny Gantz, a former army chief staff, and Yair Lapid, a former finance minister] with the support of a blocking bloc of the Arab parties, or a strong right-wing government under my leadership and under the leadership of the Likud.”

SUBTEXT A vote for Gantz is a vote for the Arabs and puts Israel’s security at risk.

Source: Read Full Article