Netanyahu Foes Plead for Charges in ‘Bar-On’ Scandal

One day after prosecutors announced they were dropping their criminal investigation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, opposition lawmakers on Monday asked the Israeli Supreme Court to overturn the decision.

In several similar appeals, Labor and Meretz party legislators, along with a public watchdog group, launched what is likely to be an uphill battle to try to force prosecutors to bring the Israeli leader to trial in an influence-trading scandal.

Prosecutors said Sunday that there was not enough evidence to indict Netanyahu and two political associates, despite what they called “tangible suspicion” of wrongdoing in the bungled appointment of an attorney general in January. But a key Netanyahu ally, Shas Party leader Aryeh Deri, is expected to be charged.

As the political crisis receded Monday, Netanyahu sought to appease critics within his coalition by announcing that he was setting up an advisory panel to oversee all future top appointments.

Named to head the committee were Finance Minister Dan Meridor and Trade Minister Natan Sharansky, two Cabinet members who had reportedly considered resigning over the scandal.

“This is an attempt to address the feeling that something is wrong in the way appointments have been made,” said an aide close to Netanyahu. “There is an unease about the way such decisions are made, and we want to correct that.”

The scandal, known here as the “Bar-On affair,” involved allegations that a Jerusalem lawyer, Roni Bar-On, was appointed attorney general in the belief that a plea bargain would be offered for Deri in an unrelated corruption trial.

Netanyahu appeared on television immediately after the prosecutors’ announcement Sunday to declare himself vindicated and the affair that had threatened his government over. He stayed out of the public eye Monday but held meetings aimed at shoring up his coalition, which--for the moment, at least--remained intact. Shas leaders had not acted on their implicit threats to bolt the government and made no reference Monday to the “political earthquake” they had said they would cause if Deri alone were indicted.

Overall, a pre-holiday lull settled across much of Jerusalem. Families prepared for the evening meal known as the Seder, the ceremony that marks the first night of the seven-day Passover holiday, and seemed to step back from the intense political preoccupations of recent days.

Meanwhile, attention in the Israeli government and press alike began to shift back toward the Middle East peace process, which had all but slipped from view as the corruption scandal peaked.

But there was no immediate indication Monday that either the Israelis or the Palestinians were any more ready to make concessions than before negotiations broke off more than a month ago. Political talks have been stalled ever since Israel began constructing a new Jewish neighborhood in traditionally Arab East Jerusalem in March and a Palestinian suicide bomber killed three Israelis in a Tel Aviv cafe.

U.S. Middle East peace envoy Dennis B. Ross completed yet another mission to the region over the weekend, this time aimed at coaxing the parties back to the bargaining table. Ross did succeed in arranging a meeting between Palestinian and Israeli security officials to discuss renewing the broad cooperation that was cut off last month, but the two sides then immediately disagreed about what had been arranged.