Netanyahu warns of plot to overthrow him

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the president of the Jewish state and a former minister of conspiring to overthrow him, leading to accusations of "paranoia" before the elections.

"I know that a former Likud minister had talks with the coalition and concocted a subversive plot, I won a big victory in the next elections and he badures me that I am not Prime Minister", he told an badembly from his right. Likud party night Wednesday night celebrating its 69th birthday.

According to this plan, President Reuven Rivlin would use his prerogative as a state leader to appoint another Likud candidate to head a post-election government.

According to one Israel Hayom According to a report released on Wednesday, the prime minister's relatives fear that if Rivlin issued an obligation to a legislator of another party or another legislator of Netanyahu's Likud party, he could theoretically lose his post of prime minister.

"They know that Netanyahu can not be replaced in the elections, so they are trying by all means to send him back," a Likud official told the newspaper.

In response to the report, the bad of Netanyahu's coalition, David Amsalem [Likud] said on Wednesday that it would promote new legislation restricting the authority of the president in order to decide who to appoint to form a new government after the elections.

"It's immoral, undemocratic and illogical," said Amsalem about the report. "But unfortunately, the obvious things can also be misinterpreted and abused."

Although Netanyahu did not name him explicitly, Gideon Saar, a former Likud minister and rival, has publicly publicly denied any such maneuver, calling on the prime minister to present evidence.

"I call on the Prime Minister to present the evidence to the public or to convince them. It's a very serious case, it has crossed a red line, "Saar said in an interview with the military radio on Thursday.

Meanwhile, President Rivlin ridiculed the accusations as "paranoia" on the part of the prime minister.

"We have read the report thoroughly, but we have struggled to find credible information, apart from a detailed description of paranoia that relies on no tangible, or even thoughtful, action that has taken place. In reality, as we know, the phenomena should be left to the professionals, who are not spokespersons, "said the president's office in a statement.

Sources close to Netanyahu also denied the report, saying it came from a former senior Likud official, who also spoke with several coalition members, not the president's office. .

The next Israeli parliamentary elections are scheduled for November 2019, but early elections may be held in case of a crisis in the ruling coalition led by Netanyahu's Likud.

"If Netanyahu decided not to push up the elections, it's not because President Rivlin or former Likud Minister Saar is looking for him, but rather to avoid coinciding with a an indictment that could ruin him in the elections, "commented Haaretz newspaper.

Netanyahu, who maintains his innocence in several corruption cases, is not obliged to resign as Prime Minister even though he is formally charged.

On Tuesday, it was reported that the police had completed its investigations and that Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit should make a decision on the opportunity to indict the prime minister in the next six months.