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Netanyahu takes the stand in his corruption trial
Updated / Tuesday, 10 Dec 2024 09:55Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu enters the district court in Tel Aviv at the start of his hearing on corruption charges
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the witness stand for the first time in his long-running corruption trial to give testimony that will likely force him to juggle for weeks between the courtroom and war room.
Mr Netanyahu, 75, is Israel's first sitting prime minister to be charged with a crime.
He is the country's longest serving leader, having been in power almost consecutively since 2009.
"I have been waiting for eight years for this moment to tell the truth," Mr Netanyahu told the three judges hearing the case.
"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."
He smiled confidently when he entered the Tel Aviv District Court around 10am local time.
The trial was moved from Jerusalem for undisclosed security reasons and convened in an underground courtroom, a 15-minute walk from the country's defence headquarters.
Before Mr Netanyahu took the stand, his lawyer Amit Hadad laid out for the judges what the defence maintains are fundamental flaws in the investigation.
Prosecutors, he said, "weren't investigating a crime, they were going after a person."
Mr Netanyahu was indicted in 2019 in three cases involving gifts from millionaire friends and for allegedly seeking regulatory favours for media tycoons in return for favourable coverage. He denies any wrongdoing.
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. He denies the charges and has pleaded not guilty.
"The real threat to democracy in Israel is not posed by the public's elected representatives, but by some among the law enforcement authorities who refuse to accept the voters' choice and are trying to carry out a coup with rabid political investigations that are unacceptable in any democracy," he said in a statement on Thursday.
我Before the Gaza 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.
Explained: Benjamin Netanyahu's corruption trial
Israel has been waging war in Gaza against the Palestinian militant group for more than a year, during which Mr Netanyahu had been granted a delay for the start of his court appearances.
But last Thursday, judges ruled that he must start testifying.
Demonstrators demand action for the release of Israelis held hostage by Hamas
The Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, and the ensuing Gaza war swept Mr Netanyahu's trial off the public agenda, but as the war dragged on, political unity crumbled.
In recent weeks, while fighting abated on one front after Israel reached a ceasefire with Hamas' Lebanese ally Hezbollah, members of Mr Netanyahu's cabinet, including his justice and police ministers, have clashed with the judiciary.
His domestic legal woes were compounded last month when the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for him and his former defence chief Yoav Gallant along with a Hamas leader, for alleged war crimes in the Gaza conflict.
Netanyahu takes the stand in his corruption trial
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the witness stand for the first time in his long-running corruption trial to give testimony that will likely force him to juggle for weeks between the courtroom and war room.
