Netanyahu Takes the Witness Stand in Historic Corruption Trial

(Bloomberg) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to take the witness stand for the first time in a corruption trial in which he’s accused of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, a case that’s played havoc with the nation’s political life for nearly a decade.

His testimony is scheduled for three times a week, six hours a day, over several weeks, meaning that as Israel fights a war in Gaza, bombs weapons sites in Syria and takes part in a ceasefire in Lebanon, its leader will be on a witness stand in Tel Aviv. 

It’s the first time in Israel’s history a sitting prime minister will defend himself in court in his own case. Netanyahu and his team tried repeatedly to delay the sessions and triggered a petition to the Supreme Court asking that he be declared “temporarily incompetent” to run the country’s affairs during the testimony. 

Both efforts failed, but they symbolize the intense divide over the cases in a way not dissimilar to how prosecutions against US President-Elect Donald Trump divided Americans. 

Netanyahu, 75, and his supporters view the cases as a naked effort by the liberal establishment to remove him from political life, something it had failed to do through the electoral process. He’s the country’s longest-serving prime minister. His opponents say he must step down to stand trial, which he’s refused to do.

On Tuesday and on subsequent days, Netanyahu will be questioned by his defense team and by the attorneys of three other defendants. Only then will he be cross-examined by the prosecution. Proceedings began with one of his lawyers laying out the PM’s defense. 

Due to the security situation during wartime, the trial was moved from Jerusalem to a courthouse in Tel Aviv which has an underground maximum security room.

‘Unfounded Accustaions’

At a press conference Monday night, Netanyahu denied that he tried to avoid his testimony. “For eight years I have been waiting for this day,” he said, “to finally blow up the delusional and unfounded accusations and expose a brutal hunting method.” 

“These investigations were born in sin,” he said. “There was no offense so they searched for one. They didn’t find it, so they invented it.” Netanyahu went on to accuse the law-enforcement authorities of falsifying protocols, concealing exculpatory evidence and leaking from the investigations.

He rejected claims that he’s unable to serve as prime minister during the trial, saying he’s run the country for years while fighting the indictments. 

The cases against Netanyahu have had a major impact on Israel’s political life since party leaders to the center and left have refused to join a government led by him in recent years. As a result, the PM brought the far right into his coalition after elections two years ago, making it the most right-wing religious government in the country’s history. 

Anger at the judicial establishment led his government to promote an overhaul of the legal system to weaken the courts, prompting months of mass street demonstrations. Those divisions, some argue, gave Israel’s enemies, including the Hamas militia in Gaza, the sense that the country was weak and ripe for attack. 

The investigation against Netanyahu began in 2016. He was indicted five years ago in three different cases involving owners of major media: Shaul Elovich, formerly the controlling shareholder of Bezeq, his wife Iris, and Arnon Mozes, the publisher and main stakeholder of Israeli media powerhouse Yedioth Aharonoth. 

In the case involving Elovich, known as 4000, Netanyahu is accused of attempting to adjust regulation to benefit his company. The prosecution has said the benefits were worth 1.8 billion shekels ($500 million) to Elovich. In turn, the prime minister sought favorable coverage for him and his family in news website Walla, then owned by Bezeq. 

In case 2000, Netanyahu is accused of offering Mozes, the newspaper publisher, to pass a law limiting distribution of a main competitor in exchange for positive coverage. The law never achieved a majority in parliament. Netanyahu has strongly denied both the above allegations, as have Elovich and Mozes.

In the third case, 1000, Netanyahu is accused of receiving gifts from Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan and businessman James Packer that included cigars and cases of pink champagne. In exchange, the charges say, Milchan sought help on extending his US visa and on changing tax laws to his benefit, something he denies. 

The scope of the gifts was approximately 700,000 shekels ($200,000). Netanyahu has rejected the allegations, saying the gifts were gestures from friends, not a quid pro quo.

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