JERUSALEM – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced calls to resign over a corruption scandal on Friday, as senior government colleagues publicly declared support after some signs of cracks in party loyalty.
Netanyahu said he would not step down after he was indicted on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust by Israel’s attorney-general on Thursday night.
The 70-year-old conservative Likud party leader denies all wrongdoing and denounced the indictment – the first against a sitting Israeli prime minister – as an “attempted coup”.
But his ability to lead a country mired in political crisis, after two inconclusive elections this year that failed to produce a government, is being questioned. (Reuters)
