Times of Israel reports that Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit initially offered former prime minister Bibi Netanyahu a far more lenient plea deal in his corruption trial than the one currently being discussed, but backed away due to a flood of pressure from key figures in the prosecution. According to a report by Channel 12, Netanyahu, 72, the current opposition leader, would only have had to commit to stepping away from public life for two years, with the charges also being significantly lowered in two of the cases against him and dismissed in the third.

Since reports of the negotiations emerged last week, they have generally said that Mandelblit has been demanding that any plea deal with Netanyahu include a clause of “moral turpitude” — which would bar the former prime minister from public office for seven years.

There has been no formal confirmation of the talks from either side. The gaps between the sides appear to be too wide to be bridged in the short time left in Mandelblit’s tenure, reports say.

{Matzav.com Israel}