JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has withdrawn his request for immunity from prosecution on corruption charges, he said Tuesday morning, complaining that he would not have gotten a fair shake from Parliament and had therefore “decided not to let the dirty game continue.”The move, which was not unexpected, ensures that Mr. Netanyahu, who is running in Israel’s third election in a year after the first two ended in deadlock, will have to campaign as a defendant in a criminal case heading into the March 2 ballot. But it also deprives his political opponents, led by Benny Gantz of the centrist Blue and White party, of one stick with which they had hoped to beat Mr. Netanyahu. Blue and White is now the largest party in Parliament, giving it the upper hand in setting the agenda for debate. The immunity request was doomed, in any event: Mr. Netanyahu lacks enough support for it in the current Parliament. But he had been trying to delay the proceedings until after the election in hopes of winning the necessary backing.

Source: New York Times January 28, 2020 09:45 UTC