ISRAEL's Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, last night escaped indictment over a government corruption affair, and immediately accused the media and the opposition of having distorted the scandal in an attempt to bring down his government because of its hardline peace policies.
Israeli state prosecutors announced that they intended filing various charges, including fraud and extortion, against Mr Aryeh Deri, the leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas coalition party, over January's short-lived appointment of a Jerusalem lawyer, Mr Ronnie Bar-On, as government attorney general. But although they spoke of "real suspicions" regarding Mr Netanyahu's handling of the affair, they said they were "closing the files" on the Prime Minister and his Minister of Justice, Mr Tsahi Hanegbi, because of a lack of conclusive evidence. They ordered police to resume their investigation of two other individuals: Mr Avigdor Lieberman, the director-general of the Prime Minister's office, and Mr David Appel, an activist from Mr Netanyahu's Likud party.
Mr Shimon Peres, leader of the main opposition Labour Party, last night reiterated his demand that Mr Netanyahu "get up, resign and go". But Mr Netanyahu, in a brief, presidential-style address to the nation, indicated that he had no intention of doing any such thing, displayed immense satisfaction at the prosecutors' decision, and took the opportunity to restate some of his policies to continue the building of 6,500 Jewish homes at the new East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Har Homa, to prevent a Palestinian state, and to maintain Israeli rule over the Golan Heights.
Mr Yossi Sarid, leader of the left-wing opposition party Meretz, announced that he would today be petitioning the Supreme Court to overturn the decision not to prosecute the Prime Minister. A long political battle looms over the minutiae of the state prosecutors' report into the affair. But legal analysts suggested last night that the Supreme Court would be reluctant to intervene.
Several cabinet ministers who had threatened to quit if the Prime Minister was implicated in a criminal conspiracy appeared inclining towards remaining in their posts.
Top figures in Mr Deri's Shas party, by contrast, were fuming over the decision to prosecute their leader alone. How could it be asked one, that Mr Deri was being accused of extorting the government into appointing Mr Bar-On, and yet no one in government was being charged?