Netanyahu and Alsheikh
Netanyahu and AlsheikhBasel Aweidat/Flash 90

Professor Aviad Hacohen, dean of the Sha'arei Mishpat Academic College, on Wednesday discussed in an interview with Arutz Sheva the police recommendations in the cases against Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

“Everyone is speaking as though everything has already been decided and it’s absolutely not the case. We have to remember that we are at the end of an investigation. After the investigation there must be a decision by the attorney general, and he and he alone, not the recommendations of the police and not senior lawyers, will determine the fate of this case, whether there will be an indictment, and if so – then which offenses it will include,” Hacohen pointed out.

"Afterward, and hopefully we don’t get there, even if an indictment is filed, we have to go through a lengthy process in court, and this can take several years," he explained.

“On the factual level,” said Hacohen, “the role of the police is to collect as much relevant evidence as possible and, insofar as the legal aspect is concerned, the State Prosecutor's Office must start from the beginning, impartially and without prejudices, to examine the facts presented by the police.”

Regarding the issue of Netanyahu stepping down, amid calls from the opposition on him to do so, Professor Hacohen stated, "One must distinguish between the legal obligation and the ethical or public obligation. On the legal level, the law goes so far as to stipulate that even if an indictment is filed, as long as the trial does not end with a conviction that the prime minister has committed an offense involving moral turpitude, he does not have to resign and this can take many years.”

"On the moral and public levels, there is another question entirely. On the one hand, a prime minister who claims to be innocent, and also the fact that his resignation would mean the resignation of the entire government. On the other hand there is an inappropriate situation in which a prime minister is concerned with state matters while a heavy cloud of bribery charges that also distracts him from the affairs of the state hangs over his head,” he continued.

"In my opinion, as long as there is no decision by the attorney general, there is certainly no obligation for him to resign, not only because he has a presumption of innocence, but also because we do not even know what the attorney general will decide,” said Hacohen.

"The moment there will be a decision by the attorney general, then of course everything will be completely different because the assumption is that the attorney general examines things properly and he will not file an indictment if he does not think there is a reasonable chance for conviction, and then we will reach a completely different situation.”

"The police recommended indictments in two cases on bribery offenses. The attorney general can decide not to file an indictment at all, or to file one on relatively minor offenses such as fraud and breach of trust, not bribery, so everything is open," concluded Hacohen.