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Thousands rally in support of Israel's Netanyahu after graft indictment

27 November 2019
11720
2019-11-27 11:38

A few thousand Israelis demonstrated in support of Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday. Netanyahu was charged on November 21 with bribery, fraud and breach of trust. He denies wrongdoing in all three of the criminal cases and has cast the investigations against him as an attempted coup, aimed at toppling a popular right-wing leader.

Netanyahu, Israel's longest serving leader and in power consecutively since 2009, presently heads a caretaker government after two inconclusive elections this year. He is not forced by law to leave office and has vowed to stay in power. But the indictment against has prompted calls from the centre-left opposition for him to step down, as well as stirring up a leadership challenge from within his Likud party. Israel is facing unprecedented political turmoil after neither Netanyahu, nor his centrist rival failed to form a government following elections held in April and in September. With the political deadlock, Israel could be facing a third ballot within a few months.

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