Benjamin Netanyahu has become Israel’s first sitting prime minister to testify as a criminal defendant – having taken to the witness stand in his long-running corruption trial.
Claiming that he has been “waiting eight years for this moment” the 75-year-old prime minister started what will be a number of appearances in the courtroom in the coming weeks. He will answer to charges of fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three separate cases.
He is testifying as Israel is engaged in a war in Gaza and facing possible new threats posed by regional turmoil, including in Syria.
Mr Netanyahu is accused of accepting tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of cigars and champagne from a Hollywood producer in exchange for assistance with personal and business interests. He is also accused of promoting advantageous regulations for media moguls in exchange for favourable coverage of himself and his family. He denies all the charges.
“I waited eight years for this moment, to say the truth,” the prime minister said as he appeared at ease at the stand in the packed courtroom, adding that the charges against him were “an ocean of absurdness”.
He said he smoked cigars but could hardly finish them because of his workload, hated champagne and that at the start of his career in public service, he would lose sleep over media coverage but learned it had no meaningful bearing – in contrast to the prosecution’s attempts to paint him as image-obsessed.
He took the stand for about four hours and will resume testifying on Wednesday. Twice his military secretary handed him written messages, the first time requiring a recess and underscoring his having to do double duty as prime minister.
Israel has been waging war in Gaza for more than a year, during which Mr Netanyahu had been granted a delay for the start of his court appearances. Last Thursday, judges ruled that he must start testifying. The conflict in Gaza was triggered by an attack inside Israel by Hamas on 7 October last year, during which around 1,200 Israelis were killed, and another 251 people were taken hostage.
Israel’s retaliatory war from land and air, alongside a blockade, has killed 44,000 Palestinians, the majority women and children, according to health authorities inside the besieged territory. Around 90 per cent of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have been forced from their homes.
In the run-up to his court date, Mr Netanyahu revived familiar pre-war rhetoric against law enforcement, describing investigations against him as a witch hunt. Before the war, Mr Netanyahu’s legal troubles bitterly divided Israelis and shook Israeli politics through five rounds of elections. His government’s bid last year to curb the powers of the judiciary further polarised Israelis.
The leader of the right-wing Likud party, Mr Netanyahu assailed the Israeli media during his testimony, for what he called its leftist stance and accused journalists of having hounded him for years because his policies did not align with a push for a Palestinian state.
“I have been waiting for eight years for this moment to tell the truth,” Mr Netanyahu told the three-judge court. “But I am also a prime minister ... I am leading the country through a seven-front war. And I think the two can be done in parallel.”
The testimony, set to take place three days a week for several weeks, will take up a significant chunk of Mr Netanyahu’s working hours, prompting critics to ask if he can capably manage a country embroiled in a war on Gaza, containing the fallout from a second, and keeping tabs on other potential regional threats, including in Syria and from Iran.
The trial was convened in an underground courtroom, a 15-minute walk from the country’s defence headquarters, having been moved from Jerusalem for undisclosed security reasons.
Under Israeli law, indicted prime ministers are not required to step down. But the charges against Mr Netanyahu cleaved deep divisions in Israel, with protesters demanding he resign and former political allies refusing to serve in government with the Israeli leader, triggering a political crisis that led to five elections in less than four years beginning in 2019.
His popular support also dropped after the Hamas attack, with the public blaming his leadership for failing to prevent the assault and bring hostages home.
The Israeli leader and his former defence chief Yoav Gallant, along with a Hamas leader, for alleged war crimes in the Gaza conflict. The accusations have been called ridiculous by Mr Netanyahu.
