1、CRS INSIGHT Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress INSIGHTINSIGHTi i Israel: April 2019 Elections and Probable Indictments Against Prime Minister Netanyahu Jim Zanotti Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs March 6, 2019 The closely contested Israeli national elections scheduled for April 9,
2、2019, will have significant implications for the countrys leadership and future policies. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu called for elections to take place seven months earlier than required by law, partly in hopes of winning a popular mandate to counteract legal allegations threatening his tenur
3、e. These allegations led to Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit expressing his intent, on February 28, 2019, to indict Netanyahu for bribery, fraud, and breach of trust. If Netanyahu maintains political support from voters and coalition partners in the Knesset (Israels parliament), he can probably s
4、tay in office until the legal process ends, which could take months or years (see Table 1 below). Netanyahu has been prime minister for the past decade (and served an earlier three-year term in the 1990s). Congress actively follows issues relating to Israel, given Israels significance for U.S. polic