Minister of Regional Cooperation David Amsalem of the ruling Likud Party and a close ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said violent civil war would break out if any steps were taken to remove Netanyahu from power for being unable to fulfil his duties, while on criminal trial for corruption. People will take up arms, he said in an interview to a Netanyahu friendly outlet.
"This won't happen. We won't let it happen," he said. I suppose we can make the judges stay clear of such a place and we can do other things so that the public will act spontaneously," Amsalem said.
"If the prime minister is removed because they decided to remove him, and by that, destroy democracy, they will not be able to enter their chambers. People will come and prevent them from entering. No problem. We can do this step by step."
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Netanyahu at the Jerusalem District Court for his corruption trial
(Photo: Haim Goldberg)
Netanyahu had been cleared to fill the role of prime minister despite been criminally indicted after he assured the court that he would be able to fulfil his role and defend himself during his trial.
Attorney General Gali Baharv-Miara told the Supreme Court earlier that there was no reason to remove the prime minister at this time. The AG had been under attack by members of Netanyahu's government and his coalition in the Knesset who have been attempting to fire her and replace her with a more supportive AG after she blocked legislation efforts including during the attempts to change the judicial system and the balance of power between the executive branch and the courts.
Benjamin Netanyahu arrives at his criminal trial
(Gil Yochanan, Gilad Morag)
Netanyahu also rejected the requests to the Supreme Court for his removal and claimed the judges would be dragged into a political matter and would be subverting the democratic will of the people.
The prime minister had made repeated attempts to postpone testifying before the Jerusalem District Court in his defense during his corruption trial and after he was granted a two-month delay, his final request for further postponement was rejected.
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On Wednesday, Netanyahu's defense council again appealed to the court requesting that the prime minister only testify two days a week and for no longer than five hours, and not the three days ordered by the judges. Defense council also asked that the testimony not be schedule on consecutive days and said that Netanyahu was busy with running the country and would be unable to make himself available.