美国有线新闻 CNN 以色列总理遭正式起诉 内塔尼亚胡驳斥称是政变

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There's a lot of political uncertainty¹ right now in Israel. The Middle Eastern country's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has just been formally charged with corruption². And that news broke a day after his political rival, Benny Gantz, was unable to form a government.

Israel has had two elections this year. After the first one in April, incumbent³ Prime Minister Netanyahu was expected to serve a record fifth term as the nation's leader. But there was a political deadlock⁴, and neither that election nor the one in September gave him enough support in Israel's Knesset, its parliament, for him to govern the country.

His rival, Benny Gantz, was also unable to win enough support in the Knesset to be prime minister. He announced that on Wednesday. And things got more complicated Thursday when Israel's attorney general said that Netanyahu was being charged with bribery⁵, fraud and breach⁶ of trust.

One thing the prime minister is accused of doing is accepting gifts from businessmen in other countries. Another is abusing his power to get more positive coverage⁷ in the news.

Netanyahu, who's denied doing anything wrong, says the charges amount to an attempted coup⁸. He blames his political opponents and the media for it, and says investigators⁹ weren't after the truth, they were after him.

But this is the first time in Israel's history that a sitting prime minister has been charged in criminal investigations¹⁰. And no one sure what's going to happen next. There's no law that says Netanyahu needs to resign and he's refused his opponent's calls for him to do so. And the legal process there could take months or even years to play out.

But will the prime minister be able to govern and fight his case in court at the same time? Is a third election in the same year ahead for Israel?

These are some questions Israelis are asking in very uncertain times.