JD: Winkie talk to me about Netanyahu’s indictment. Did that cause him a real problem? Was that maybe the reason for all of these elections and possible defeat of Likud down the road?
WM: I am not sure and I would probably answer no. It doesn’t give him good press or reflection in media stories. But he twice in elections has pulled somewhere in the neighborhood of about 34 or 35 or so seats which is a large number and is matched numbers in the past and even overcome some of them. So his public position or his public reflection or how his image shall I use better was not hurt by these indictments. What hurt him was the fact that the Blue & White said we’re not going to go into the government with a Prime Minister who has been indicted even though the law doesn’t say anything about that. In fact the law says the serving Prime Minister cannot be taken out of office unless the trial is finished including the various appeals. And I think we mentioned this on the program before that could take up to 2 years at least in these cases. So no I don’t think so. It gives a bad image in the media and allows other parties to stand off. But it doesn’t hurt him as the leading candidate for the Likud.
JD: And ultimately he could be proven not guilty. He says he’s not guilty couldn’t he?
WM: Absolutely. We’ve had off the top of my head from what I can remember at least 3 ministers who were indicted and not found guilty. Some were but 3 others I know were not. Yet they had to give up their positions and could never come back because things move on. I mean you know someone replaced them and the trial took place over a year to 2 years and you can’t wind back the clock sometimes especially in politics.
JD: Winkie Medad with details on the indictment of Prime Minister Netanyahu and Israeli’s blaming the Prime Minister for 3 elections in one year.