favorable coverage that's now he's also suspected of receiving more than a quarter of a million dollars worth of lavish gifts from business tycoons and its t.v. address on thursday in the snow he said the case would quote collapse like a house of cards. for three years they have been carrying out a political pursuit against us an unprecedented hunting expedition with one goal to topple the right wing government led by me and to bring to power the leftist party of lap and dance they have put inhumane pressure on the state attorney general and . i tell you the citizens of israel this house of cards will collapse i'm absolutely certain of that i'm certain of it four thousand percent i plan on serving you and the state as prime minister for many years let's take a look at all the high ranking israeli officials who have been indicted in the past in two thousand and eleven israel's former president mushy katzav was convicted of rape and sentenced to seven years in prison and two thousand and fifteen former

prime minister ehud olmert was jailed for six years for bribery that was later reduced to eighteen months and dairy was convicted of taking bribes while serving as interior minister and given a three year jail sentence in the year two thousand. well let's bring in our guests now and joining us from tel aviv is akiva eldar israeli economist for the out for a monitor and co-author of the biography of former israeli president shimon peres from zagreb professor in international relations at regents university in london and associate fellow in the middle east and north africa program at chatham house and from western islamists will baraka c.e.o. of keeping global research and a speechwriter for former israeli prime minister ariel sharon and former israeli president shimon peres a very warm welcome to all of you mitchell how much damage is this intent to indict

by the attorney general it's caused benjamin netanyahu. well it really depends who you ask because for the faithful of netanyahu this is going to embolden a lot of them to get out to the polls the prime minister and this was not so much of a surprise i mean i think he would have liked to get off on one or two of those cases but it's not so much he's prepared everyone that this is going to happen and what he successfully done over the last few weeks is he's actually made this into a political issue not a legal one that the elections they're trying to steal the elections even before the elections take place they're trying to influence and what you know the left that they call the left it can't do in the ballot box they're trying to do with the legal you know with legally bringing him down and a lot of people believe that so the people that you know support natanya a lot of them are sticking with him and say it's a conspiracy because

a lot of those people are still convinced that the left of center labor type of leadership is running the country even though likud has been really running you know in the government the last forty years and i think what happens is is up until now for a lot of people we knew that the emperor or the prime minister didn't have any clothes and now when you see it that he doesn't have any clothes he actually borrowed clothes from someone else it looks really bad for everyone else but do you think i keep that nest neal who genuinely believes that he's not in the thing wrong here that's a great question and then you know according to experts the psychologist who i'm not ised his personality is a clinical not says. it's all about him and i think that he convinced himself that he is the ultimate victim here and it's the left after him and i think that this can turn out to be a double good swart because if it's about politics people there are people even

glee could devote to this the ever. ridgeley could a voter in my age who remembers menachem begin and is comparing now i'm beggin who has built this party and was the first prime minister from the likud. his his claim to fame was that it was democracy uber alice it's democracy first and the wall of lords he will remember his phrase he said there are judges in jerusalem and he respected the law and people who remember him will compare netanyahu to him and say ok if it's politics we don't like this kind of politics do you think you see that the timing of the attorney general is announcement has been fair i mean it does come before these elections and to be fair to the snow you do get a presumption of innocence don't you until otherwise found guilty. well the presumption

of innocence is there but you know division a long time to have justice and it's not the only general decided to declare the election it was netanyahu serve that brought it on him served by declaring the early elections but i think the choice now for these early voters it's i didn't attend you know all democracy there is no third third option because what we see in front of us is the previous speaker saying this is someone that elects an integrity it's not only about the legal side of fate this is full court and everyone is entitled to the presumption of innocence but it's about standards of behavior in government it's about i think when we listen to his speech tonight and yell speech from yesterday it's almost as well as then actually what he's accused of because you try to sleep easily democracy or for any substance by by

vicious attack on democracy on the media on political opponents so actually it exposes him in front of the voters for who we really is but how much of the voters actually care about that michel. well i mean a lot of them do and like i said in the beginning the ones that do were going to vote for him anyway and the ones that don't what a lot of voters focus on in every election has really been run on this is security and foreign policy mostly security either security or peace whatever side of the coin that is but for the right of center voters it's all about security it's about the land of israel it's about the jewish character of the state of israel so they're willing to overlook some of this i mean israel is a middle east democracy it's a democracy in the middle east where everyone votes so a lot of them have the attitude what's a little buck sheesh between some friends in the middle east marc recy and they're

willing to overlook that absolutely because his message is that israel needs him that he is mr security correct correct not only do they need him but no one else can do the job and he's successfully convinced many many israelis can or a long period of time that he is the best guy for the job and you know i will give him credit on this there's not a lot of people world leaders today that are very close with trump and they're not a lot of world leaders that are very close and have a good relationship with putin and he's probably only one that has both of those things so that is appealing and that is attractive to israeli voters who have a geo political sense of what's going on and security is very much on their mind in the region in israel itself and in the region he mentioned trump and it's hard isn't it akiva not to draw parallels to donald trump who is also coming under fire in d.c. but has a very strong support base at that listens to chumps message which is some less

netanyahu is that he's the victim of some liberal conspiracy to get rid of him. actually there even using the same language the same phrases like an attorney else said yesterday about fake it it wasn't filed one thousand it was fake one thousand fake two thousand this is you know only the numbers that follow the investigation but following previous questioner it's very important to say that it's not only to voters because newtown you know we'll have to form a coalition and what happened yesterday not only the allegations not only the statement in the indictment but his behavior his conduct after that made mr guns the blue and white party that was a potential partner for legitimate coalition that a balanced coalition that could deal with the peace process and other challenges

fourth gallants to say netanyahu is not going to be my partner in netanya zero is illegitimate and this is now the israeli voters know now that it will be very very difficult if not impossible for an attorney how to form a coalition he will have to maybe to form a coalition with the garnished with you know those ultra extra large radical right this is a look at the centrist candidate as you mentioned that benny gantz will say yes paid their pay is some sort of significant challenge haven't they are seen to in these upcoming elections how freston should he be by that. and i think this is those of crucial elections for reserve to make a little decision with which direction the country staking is it taking then the ten yo that action which is morally co-opts it's tainted by this kind of

allegations and also with. sharply to to divide and includes in government extreme racists people that believe in the transfer of it is really palestinians and then are seen from the west bank to other countries all em all consider it i won't call it left as nathaniel it's at best the center is a polity like the one led by benny gantz and paid that sin under certain circumstances is a very day to make the compromise needed for peace with the palestinians is a small way. leaning towards social justice and you know need to be tested in government i think this is the choice i agree with the previous speaker you know these early voters are quite conservative in attitude then they take their attitude that's their revenue taniela didn't know that any and tested commodity but i think this is this is the time probably to we consider i think that idea that soon that

any always a place of birth i think the graveyard of his stories. of leaders that believe that irreplaceable in the story prove them will ok so mitchell who might be way see in the wings to replace netanyahu. well it's hard to say at this point i mean the godsend lefty the the tag team or the duo the dynamic duo of guns and libby is certainly making a play for but you know they are lacking experience in the area meaning you know god has never really sat in a security cabinet other than when he was chief of staff he never voted on these things he doesn't have experience in government let pete has minimal experience in government so again you can be elected president united states and i'm not just talking about this one but the previous one and ones before that that don't have military experience and get it and are able to do a good job for israelis you also have the likud meaning what may happen has

happened to the election is. correct there is jagow well that's that's the interesting thing also about that party they're calling it a center party but it's really like a center left party dressed up as in wolf's clothing meaning they've taken some nits and yahoo's x. levers if you will meaning his former defense minister his former communications are and his former cabinet secretary and say we are protecting the right which is really a good way to go to the voter because you want to be seen as the left but have the dressings of someone that's right and it's going to protect security but i think the that the real question is not going to be believe it or not it's who people vote for in the election but what happens after april tenth because as a kiva said if it's an it's and you know there's a moral problem right now everyone has come behind him and said they're not going to sit with guns in the paid and they stand behind it ok after april tenth it could be that he is not able to form a coalition and where as gunson the peter trying to break away those those right

wing voters now they'll break a few away what they need to be do is break one of the parties away afterwards and they'll go for either cough loans party or one the ultra orthodox parties and then they may be able to form something or the likud throws out its own yo and says listen not throw them out but says we're not going to go sink on the ship with you we need to put someone else in and either join the government or have elections within our party that was going to be my next monday's question the it could possibly mean they've been baffled enough so far have been it's trying to block the attorney general from announcing his decision how much longer are they going to be willing to stick behind this and yahoo. well and actually we're looking forward to toddler that will be willing to say oh it will have the courage to say that the king is naked king and tonneau is naked that. he is tainted was bribery and you know the it tony general is anything. but left you know it was

a point in by nathaniel as well as the former chief of police was appointed and they are a bunch of i could say points who are playing according to the directions that are coming from the king and from the queen and there is you know what you need one perhaps it can be good on sour that will tempt forward and we'll say well netanyahu is becoming he was in essence for many years and now netanyahu is a liability for the likud and we have others and they may go for primaries and the other thing is that you know the president has to appoint the next member of knesset who will be it will meet the challenge of forming a government and perhaps the president will say that you know he's is hand is

shaking before he will shake an attorney aus hand and will say this man needs to form an israeli government i am not going to be part of this yes he said to netanyahu step down now. well i think if he has any source of integrity any of lefty name if there is any but yes he should step down because this so serious allegation you just need to follow the advice you gave previous. israeli prime minister dawn minutes when he was in similar situation that the call and you can stay in power you count on such a complex country while there are serious allegations of corruption against you so he just should follow his own advice and i glue if. it became the ten year old becomes a liability the quick of that he could pilot he would realize that he's a liability if old them and they start looking for the day after after the

netanyahu and then stand yes he delivered the goods for them full for more than a decade now it's time for him to go and now also for the country to move on because as long as it looks like outside the country is a complete farce if nathaniel keeps his position now michel because the injury people be looking at him saying look even if you win i guess i had akiva i just wanted to jump in and say that right now anything that he will do if for instance he will open another attack on gaza nobody will believe i mean nobody of course his point followers but decent people will ask themselves is it doing good because this is what is the interest of israel right now oh it's his interest to distract the attention of the public opinion from his own problems yes we come back to that said you know events in don't really know how strong it is there's a long way to take

a hand he retained the numbers to get back into power in april so he has the full support of his party right now the thing is because it's a parliamentary system he only really needs about twenty twenty five percent of the vote and it's the other parties that are going to fall in line meaning it's the right. of center parties and it's the religious parties it's the block and that's what this whole thing is and that's all the messaging that's going on right now is he's all that every time he mentions a name got sloppy that's left and then i'll tack on the arabs they're going to use the arabs which is really sort of a racist comment because there's a one point two million arab citizens in israel and if you're saying they can't be part of the government that's really not the right thing to say in a democracy and he's been saying that so he's scaring the people that might consider going to godzilla piece by saying the only way they're getting into is a with those israeli arabs and we know those israeli arabs they don't have our best of interests at heart so again there's a reason he passed the nation state law a few months ago it's successful very successful among most israelis but

specifically among the likud voters and everyone on the right and he's going to play on those themes up to the election and all he wants is the block right now so you'll see the extent that people are they going to buy into that and overlook the fact that this case is going to be hanging over him if he wins this election it's going to be hanging of him the best part of this year we don't know when the indictment if it actually happens will take place but it's going to be that is going to be a distraction for him and he's got an awful lot of other issues to deal with no doubts we do see in the next forty days in the town you know it is well it's a inciting against meno between citing is the media. what he calls the left but i think this is the time for the center least in the center left to to unite to send a very clear message that they won't all of a. full full full day legal system that's one total of eight hundred sites meant

against minorities against a political opponents and maybe it's time that this debate is going go on to say yes the representative of the minorities in the news there. are legitimate partners in the future of government they're not aliens they're not against the country they're part of the country they're equal citizens and maybe there is a chance here though that i believe much that is going to happen but maybe there is a chance here to start in changing the discourse of incitement into something more constructive i think that's what the country needs at the moment you know somebody may view this in the context of the palestinian issue people who still take a step back and akiva they would perhaps be illegitimate question which is why would a prime minister be indicted for accepting bribes and drinking lots of pink champagne but not on the other hand killing hundreds of palestinian protesters the brilliant question laura. i would first of all i would like to say that hopefully you know

what's happening now with the incitement will be a real wake up call for the jewish minority as you know unprecedented there was that the statement coming from a park and i'm very curious to see how many standing ovations he is going to get there when he will be one of the keynote speakers two weeks before the elections in the apex convention in april but i am afraid that the great damage than ateneo is doing is removing the most crucial issue these rarely palestinian conflict the occupation the settlements the breach of international law and this has been removed from the discourse and we are going to pay for it and well i hope that perhaps. president trump will save us and will

put forward his blueprint and the israeli public will have to make up his mind as trump said few months ago if you don't go forward if there is no progress in a two state solution you will going to get a bill mollison as your prime minister so perhaps you know he will save us from ourselves indeed i mean that is the thought isn't it mitchell trumps deal with a good deal of the century for signals that you back on the terri table at what extent do you think this is all a distraction for israel. the deal i mean you know it's they're going to use it it's and you know will again use it because he successfully campaign the last time as being the one who said i can counter obama because they're going to put pressure on israel now so he's going to say the same thing what i would like to go back to is there was something that yossi said is you know we did polls among israeli arabs israeli arab citizens for the konrad adenauer foundation a year and

a half ago and we asked them specifically what conditions would you go into the government we presented the results at tel aviv university with member of knesset i'm an o. did there and he was very encouraged because a third of israeli arabs said under the right conditions an israeli arab parties should go in the government and another ten percent said you know we don't want to go in but we could support it from the outside so that's a considerable amount of people that are ready to participate so i think that you know if we're talking about a middle east democracy democracy means everyone not only everyone is equal everyone can and should partake and has a responsibility to partake and that includes being government and if they are going to different disenfranchised people before that's a problem it's been a really interesting discussion we have we do have to finish that it's going to be that we have very interesting election to keep an eye on as well thank you very much to all of our guests today you'll see michael back and mitchell back. and thank you for watching you can see the program again any time by visiting our

website dot com and of a discussion to go to all facebook page that's facebook dot com for slash a.j. inside story you also join the conversation on twitter or handlers at a.j. inside story from me laura kyle and the whole team here bye for now. for some it's murder. for others it's a way of life. a battle is raging between the whaling industry and conservationists

as the future of whaling in icelandic waters is decided. people in power are killing whales on other josina. and monday put it on the. u.s. and british companies have announced the biggest discovery of natural gas in west africa but what to do with these untapped natural resources is already a source of heated debate nothing much has changed they still spend most of their days looking forward to for the dry river beds like this one five years on the syrians still feel battered or even those who managed to escape their country have been truly unable to escape the war. christian priest you are a friend of the palestinians he's a true friend of everyone and champion of the palestinian cause.

and activist who is willing to sacrifice his freedom. for his beliefs. al-jazeera world tells the extraordinary story of the archbishop and the piano. i'm sami say than in dar with a look at the headlines here on al-jazeera i have least seven people have died in cross border shelling between india and pakistan in the disputed kashmir region indian officials say a mother and her two children were killed when pakistani artillery fire hit a house in indian administered kashmir pakistan says indian five killed two civilians and two soldiers along the line of control so how raman has the latest from new delhi. it's not just been overnight it's been like the last seventy two

hours not been a real problem for residents on both sides of the line of control is the constant shelling by the military's perspective militaries cause a great deal of anger and nightmare scenarios and in one particular incident we're seeing a we're hearing about the area of food chits around about sixty kilometers from the line of control but it's still within spitting distance so to speak of the military and heavy shelling there overnight has become hellish for many and love for one father a living nightmare has actually become a reality star now got them first i don't know what it was around nine o'clock at night when the heavy shelling started we were sleeping inside our room my kids got scared so i picked them up and ran to the other room i opened the door and as i was about to enter the room the shell landed destroying the house and killed the girl the boy and their mother and his story is one that is reflected by many individuals

that have lost loved ones not just in the last seventy two hours but over the past seventy years these two countries both india and pakistan have been fighting over the region of kashmir what we also know is that because of the heavy shelling on friday around about fifty kilometers north of boone geneva to the line of control is a small village of and civilians there had to be evacuated to safer areas because the shelling was so bad the latest fighting comes after pakistan released an indian pilot in what islamabad is calling a gesture of peace wing commander i mean and then voted the man was welcomed at the border his plane was shot down in kashmir two days ago. kurdish forces in syria say they expect the battle to retake eyesores last held their it to be over sued u.s. backed syrian democratic forces launched the final push against arsenal in the

village of beit rules on friday the last remaining group of civilians who were evacuated just hours earlier thousands of people have left in recent weeks u.s. president donald trump has asked china to lift all tariffs on american agricultural products he says it's because trade talks between the world's two biggest economies are progressing well the us president also pointed out he didn't impose twenty five percent tariffs on friday as he'd originally planned china and the u.s. trying to negotiate a way out of a trade war that soon tit for tat hikes on tariffs since last year north korean leader kim jong un is on his way back home after four days in vietnam kim took an armored train from the china vietnam border he stayed on in hanoi for an official visit after denuclearization talks broke down with the u.s. president vietnam's relationship with the us was supposed to be an example for pyongyang it too was once considered an enemy of washington. high level talks

between the u.s. and taliban have resumed in doha u.s. envoys. says an earlier round ended with unprecedented progress to end the seventeen you war the taliban is refusing to directly negotiate with the afghan government and it wants foreign forces to withdraw in while the taliban claimed responsibility for an attack on an army base in afghanistan which killed at least twenty three afghan soldiers were sure about base in helmand province is shared by afghan and american troops. space x. has launched its astronauts capsule into space for the first time. nasa has asked space x. and boeing to come up with technology to allow it to resume manned space flights. test flight is a milestone for the company billionaire. in

december bangladesh went to the polls with prime minister sheikh hasina securing a landslide victory. she said she won on the back of bangladeshis impressive economic record and a decade of growth. her opponent say she stole the election we had a big. one international monitors accuse her of silencing her critics and muzzling the press. media division. so is bangladesh becoming a one party state. and was hosting over one million rohingya refugees fleeing myanmar how long can and will bangladesh protect them. and

maybe house and i've come here to the oxford union to go head to head with the international affairs advisor to bangladeshi prime minister. and the historian and former academic i'll challenge him on whether democracy is dying in bangladesh and whether his country should be doing more to help the refugees. tonight i'll also be joined by. a swedish bangladeshi journalist and author of death squads and state terror in south asia saeed a team bangladesh's high commissioner to the u.k. and ireland and abbas phase and. south asia analyst at the u.k.'s essex university who previously worked for amnesty international for more than thirty years. maybe the gentleman please welcome here is

a very. senior positions in universities around the world including oxford harvard and the university of virginia he's worked for the prime minister for a decade and his role is the equivalent to that of a cabinet minister doris be following your party the league's recent landslide election victory in december it does look more and more like bangladesh is becoming a one party state does it not. i'm surprised that you would say that this has been said earlier by a number of people so it's not that surprising but and surprised that you said ok because as one who has studied politics you would understand that just because the party has been elected three times it is not over one party state the reason that you're being called a one party state is not just because you win lots of elections and so many parties do that it's still knowledge and by which you win just to be clear of the three hundred seats contested in the december election how many seats did your ruling coalition win in parliament you do eighty eight to eighty eight out of three

hundred years i wanted to be oppositional in well let's seven let me put this question two hundred eighty eight letters in seven go let me put this question do differently give me one good reason why the opposition should have been voted into power they did not have a manifesto they were ambivalent whether they were going to win the election or not so you're comfortable with a ninety six percent of the seat stuff so you are seen as now winning the kind of percentage victories that bashar al assad and kim jong un when ninety six ray said that now that you're comfortable with the knockers no it is not fine with oh no i think the comparison is totally irrelevant here there were the thirty nine political parties contested in the election free and fair elections to play a large number of international observers were there who saw it for themselves who would not vote for a government which has performed so brilliantly by any count and if you want me if

you're really many brilliant governments and they win fifty sixty seventy percent ok you say it's a free and fair election last year without point as you know the european union has said there were quote significant obstacles which have tainted the electoral campaign and the vote transparency international studied fifty constituencies in bangladesh and found serious irregularities in forty seven of them and what for including fake votes ballot stuffing voters barred from entering polling stations the b.b.c. how footage of a. stuff the ballot box in the port city of chittagong the other b.b.c. in transparency international just making this all oh one of my closes frame is the head of bangladesh transparency international so i'm not going to compute any other than deal with the report for seven out of fear i would like the election commission found irregularities in fifteen or nineteen i forget the exact number of polling stations and when they're going to remember there were forty thousand plus polling stations so if he were going you've seen it fifteen or nineteen that's all

there is if you do your friends organization looked at fifty seats and forty seven of the i don't have a regular i am yet that's not in there i can't get out of the top of my ninety five percent it's like your margin of victory isn't the problem the human rights watch describes how opposition members have been arrested killed and even disappeared in the months running up to the election there was a quote atmosphere of fear one hundred fifty opposition members were arrested just two weeks before the election surely that cripples your election.