JERUSALEM _ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been indicted on charges of fraud, bribery and breach of trust, the country's justice ministry said Thursday, throwing the country's political scene into even greater disarray and raising the prospect that the country's longest-serving leader will be forced out of office.
The 70-year-old prime minister has strenuously denied any wrongdoing, calling allegations against him a politically motivated witch hunt.
The allegations against Netanyahu include accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts from business figures, including luxury items such as cigars and Champagne. He is also accused of handing out political favors in exchange for more positive coverage by an Israeli newspaper and an online outlet.
Netanyahu could face a 10-year prison sentence if found guilty of bribery. Fraud and breach of trust are punishable by a maximum of three years in prison.
The announcement came shortly before Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit planned to hold a nationally televised news conference.
Under Israeli law, a sitting prime minister does not have to resign if accused of criminal charges _ although Netanyahu is the first, so the law is untested.
As a caretaker prime minister, he is expected to request parliamentary immunity. But the bombshell disclosure could make it difficult for him to remain in office, especially after two inconclusive national elections and the looming prospect of a third.
The indictment announcement dramatically heightens what had already been a state of chronic political uncertainty in Israel.
On Wednesday, Netanyahu's centrist rival Benny Gantz acknowledged after a weekslong effort that he could not secure a parliamentary majority needed in order to form a government _ a step that could set Israel on the path to yet another national election.
Netanyahu had also failed in his own earlier attempts to assemble a governing coalition, following the most recent election in September, and a previous one in April.
News of the indictment coincides with the start of a 21-day period during which any other Israeli lawmaker _ including Gantz, and theoretically Netanyahu _ can try to win the backing of a majority in the 120-member Knesset, or parliament.
If no one succeeds, Israel would hold another national election, which would likely take place in March. That would mark the third such balloting in less than a year, a first for Israel.
