Binyamin Netanyahu’s allies reconsider their indicted leader

THE RALLY’S organisers feared that turnout would be low. Even after a flurry of text messages and a big internet campaign, an underwhelming crowd of several thousand people showed up in downtown Tel Aviv on November 26th to protest against the “coup d’état”. That is how Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, refers to the legal campaign against him. Five days earlier he was charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust stemming from three corruption cases. Mr Netanyahu is the first sitting prime minister to be indicted. He denies all charges.The prime minister claims to be the victim of a left-wing conspiracy. Biased courts, police and media are to blame for his problems, he says. But after a decade in power, his grip on Israeli politics is weakening. His coalition of nationalist and religious parties failed to win a majority in two successive elections, in April and September. The opposition, led by the Blue and White party, has also come up short. Yet it has frustrated Mr Netanyahu’s attempts (and failed itself) to form a government, pushing the country towards another election. Cracks are even showing in his own Likud party, where he faces the most immediate challenge to his rule.