TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised defiantly on Tuesday to knock down corruption allegations towards him as he started testifying in his long-running trial, turning into the primary sitting Israeli chief to take the stand as a prison defendant.
The testimony is one other low level for Israel’s longest-serving chief, who additionally faces a global arrest warrant for alleged conflict crimes in Israel’s conflict in Gaza.
In his opening testimony in a packed Tel Aviv courtroom, Netanyahu argued that he was a devoted chief and a defender of Israel’s pursuits, swatting away the fees towards him as a “drop within the sea” in comparison with the challenges he has confronted defending his nation.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives to a press convention in Jerusalem, Monday, Dec. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, Pool)
But the fees have torn open divisions in Israel and sophisticated Netanyahu’s legacy, which has additionally been tainted by the conflict in Gaza and the rising worldwide isolation Israel faces due to it.
Speaking freely and showing relaxed, Netanyahu stated he might stability showing at his trial along with his duties as prime minister at a time when Israel continues to be combating a conflict in Gaza and contending with the autumn of Bashar Assad in neighboring Syria.
“I waited eight years for this second, to say the reality,” Netanyahu stated, standing at a podium, along with his son Avner and a number of other members of his Likud get together seated on the courtroom benches. He stated his testimony would “poke holes within the absurd accusations.”
Netanyahu will reply throughout his court docket appearances to prices of fraud, breach of belief and accepting bribes in three separate instances.
He is accused of accepting tens of 1000’s of {dollars}’ value of cigars and champagne from a billionaire Hollywood producer in change for help with private and enterprise pursuits. He can also be accused of selling advantageous rules for media moguls in change for favorable protection of himself and his household.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives on the district court docket for his long-running trial for alleged corruption, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. (Menahem Kahana/Pool Photo by way of AP)
Netanyahu, 75, denies wrongdoing, saying the fees are a witch hunt orchestrated by a hostile media and a biased authorized system out to topple his prolonged rule. His testimony caps years of scandals which have swirled round him and his household, who’ve gained a status as having fun with a lavish way of life at taxpayers’ expense.
Netanyahu’s testimony is happening in an underground, fortified courtroom for safety causes. Outside the courthouse, dozens of protesters gathered, each supporters of Netanyahu and his opponents. A banner draped outdoors learn “Crime Minister” as all sides chanted slogans. Some households of hostages held in Gaza additionally demonstrated.
At the beginning of his testimony, a decide instructed Netanyahu he had the identical privileges as different witnesses and will sit or stand as he selected.
Netanyahu instructed his model of occasions and shared private particulars about his life that he may hope would form the judges’ notion of him. He stated at first of his profession in public service he would lose sleep over media protection however discovered it had no significant bearing — in distinction to the prosecution’s makes an attempt to color him as image-obsessed.
He stated he smoked cigars however might hardly end them due to his workload, and hated champagne.
Ahead of the testimony’s begin, Netanyahu’s lawyer, Amit Hadad, accused the Israeli justice system of creating up the fees in an try to ensnare Netanyahu.
“There was an enormous effort … to seek out a couple of items of a puzzle that don’t join to one another,” Haddad stated, as Netanyahu sat on a bench behind him. “In court docket, within the gentle of day, we see every little thing falls aside.”
The testimony, set to happen six hours a day, three days every week for a number of weeks, will take up a major chunk of Netanyahu’s working hours, prompting critics to ask if he can capably handle a rustic embroiled in a conflict on one entrance, containing the fallout from a second, and maintaining tabs on different potential regional threats, together with from Iran.
His lawyer requested that he be allowed to obtain notes whereas testifying to assist guarantee he might proceed working the nation, and at some factors throughout the trial, Netanyahu did.
Under Israeli regulation, indicted prime ministers are usually not required to step down. But the fees towards Netanyahu cleaved deep divisions in Israel, with protesters demanding he resign and former political allies refusing to serve in authorities with the Israeli chief, triggering a political disaster that led to 5 elections in lower than 4 years starting in 2019.
Netanyahu’s supporters view the fees as the results of bias and overreach by the justice system.
Despite the stress, Netanyahu has rejected calls to step down and has used his place as prime minister to lash out at regulation enforcement, media and courts.
An Israeli court docket rejected a request by Netanyahu’s legal professionals to scale back the anticipated variety of hours of testimony, in addition to a number of different requests to delay its begin, which they stated have been mandatory due to the prime minister’s busy schedule and the nation’s vital challenges. A verdict isn’t anticipated till 2026 on the earliest and Netanyahu could have the choice to attraction to the Supreme Court.
Since the trial started in 2020, the court docket has heard prosecution witnesses within the three instances, together with a few of Netanyahu’s as soon as closest aides who turned state witnesses. The prosecution has tried to painting the prime minister as an image-obsessed chief who broke the regulation to enhance his public notion.
Netanyahu’s testimony might additional tarnish his picture at an advanced time. His standard assist dropped after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, assaults, with the general public blaming his management for failing to forestall the assault, and if elections have been held as we speak he would wrestle to kind a authorities. Israel continues to be combating Hamas in Gaza with no sign of ending, regardless of heavy worldwide stress to wind down the conflict, in addition to stress from the households of hostages held in Gaza and their supporters to deliver their family members house.
The Israeli chief alongside along with his former protection minister additionally face an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court for alleged conflict crimes prices associated to the conflict in Gaza. The warrant places Netanyahu in the identical firm as Russian President Vladimir Putin and former Sudanese chief Omar al-Bashir.
