Thousands rally in support of Israel's Netanyahu after graft indictment

TEL AVIV - Several thousand Israelis rallied on Tuesday in support of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he faces the gravest threat to his political survival after corruption charges and two failed elections.

Held under the banner "Stop the Coup", the protest failed to draw the huge crowds its organizers - members of Netanyahu's Likud party - had hoped to attract and only a handful of the faction's senior lawmakers and cabinet ministers attended.

Netanyahu was charged on Thursday with bribery, fraud and breach of trust. He denies wrongdoing in all three of the criminal cases and has cast the investigations against him as an attempted coup aimed at ousting a popular right-wing leader.

Israeli media put the number of demonstrators at about 2,000 to 3,000 people while Likud said 15,000 attended the rally.

Reuters