Former Likud minister and MK Benny Begin on Saturday commented on the request for immunity which was officially submitted by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu this past week.
"The Prime Minister wants to avoid an inquiry into the serious allegations made against him in the indictment of fraud, breach of trust and even bribery," Begin, the son of Likud founder and former Prime Minister Menachem Begin, said in an interview on Channel 12 News.
"The advantage of the request is that it clearly clarifies Netanyahu’s goal in this election - granting immunity and forming the majority in the Knesset that will allow for the approval of this request," he added.
"Let all the voters who are thinking of voting Likud know that the Prime Minister will take their votes and use them to solve his personal problems in order to avoid an inquiry into his case in court. It has become impossible to vote for the Likud under these conditions. I do not intend to sacrifice my vote for Netanyahu’s benefit," stressed Begin.
This is not the first time that Begin has criticized Netanyahu and declared that he would not vote for the Likud. Before the September election, he said he would be unable to vote for the Likud, claiming that during Netanyahu’s term at the helm of the party, the Likud had become “haughty and arrogant”.
In 2016, Begin was suspended from a Knesset committee after he broke with coalition discipline and voted against the so-called “Regulation Law”, which legalizes and protects thousands of Jewish homes in Judea and Samaria.
In 1999, Begin and two other Likud MKs broke away from the party to form the Herut party, adopting the name of Menachem Begin’s original political faction, a forerunner of the modern Likud.
The three MKs split from the Likud in protest over Netanyahu’s decision to sign the Hevron Agreement and Wye River Memorandum with the Palestinian Authority.