APrime Minister has been indicted for corruption. More accurately, it is the proverbial conjunction of the good and the bad, of laughter and tears going together. In parallel to his visit to Washington ahead of the release of the longdelayed and laughably lopsided Palestinian peace plan, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s longest serving Prime Minister, has been formally indicted on corruption charges after he withdrew his request for parliamentary immunity from prosecution.

Notably, he was charged in November on counts of fraud, breach of trust and bribery in three separate cases. While his country can claim a dubious geopolitical triumph ~ a classic instance of US global policing ~ Mr Netanyahu’s standing as the head of government of a volatile nation has hit the reefs. Not that the indictment was wholly unexpected; on closer reflection, the Prime Minister’s attempt to obtain immunity seemed doomed to fail from the start.

While he denied any wrongdoing, he was found wanting in terms of the bedrock of legislative support. More basically, he lacked sufficient votes in the legislature for approval. Apart from his legal battle, Netanyahu is fighting for his political survival in an election on 2 March, Israel’s third in less than a year after inconclusive ballots in April and September. While he will be beholden to Donald Trump for the proposed cartographical changes, he will have to countenance forbidding challenges at home.

With attention of the comity of nations riveted to the US President’s agenda for the Middle East, Netanyahu’s White House meetings were said to have been overshadowed by his latest legal woes. The corruption charges marked the first criminal indictment against a serving Israeli PM. The charge-sheet was first published by Israel’s attorney- general in November following a long-running investigation. The charges included bribery, breach of trust and fraud.

Netanyahu is suspected of wrongfully accepting $264,000 worth of gifts, which prosecutors said included cigars and champagne, from tycoons and of dispensing regulatory favours in alleged attempts for improved coverage by a popular news website. He could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted of bribery and a maximum three-year term for fraud and breach of trust.

The charge-sheet was first published by Israel’s attorney general in November following a long-running investigation. It was only to be expected that his opponents would exploit the issue to the hilt. “Netanyahu is going to trial; we have to move on,” was the immediate response of his principal rival, Benny Gantz. Gantz has sized up his bete noire’s predicament. It is hard not to wonder whether Donald Trump will end up backing the wrong horse.