Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was wrongly indicted because he was the leader of Israel's right-wing that his opponents sought to depose.
The prime minister took the stand on Tuesday to testify in his defense in his criminal trial for three counts of corruption including bribery, fraud and breach of trust. If I were holding left-wing views, I would not have been suspected of criminal offenses or indicted, Netanyahu said after his defense council Amit Haddad argued that the prosecution was politically motivated.
Netanyahu criticized the decision of the judges' panel for refusing to reduce the days he is to testify each week, after they rejected his attempts to delay his testimony. "I am leading a country at war on seven fronts," he said. "A tectonic shift not seen in a century has occurred. That demands balancing the needs of the trial, which I recognize, and the needs of the country."
Benjamin Netanyahu arrives in court to testify in his criminal trial for corruption
(Context)
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Defense lawyer Amit Haddad with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
(Photo: Reuven Castro)
In response to a general question from Hadadd, Netanyahu recounted the many challenges he faced as prime minister in the years he was alleged to have committed crimes of corruption, including having to deal with the American administration under then president Barak Obama who wanted him to stop building in the West Bank settlements and tried to convince him to leave security of the West Bank in the hands of the Palestinian Authority.
He spoke at length about the hostile media coverage that he received and still receives and said his efforts in engaging with publishers of leading media outlets – part of which was considered illegal and the basis of some of the charges against him, was to bring about more diversity in the Israeli media which he said was primarily left-leaning.
Netanyahu is accused of providing his co-defendant Shaul Elovich with considerable business advantage for his Bezeq communictions company in exchange for more favorable coverage on Elovich's Walla news site. According to the charges, Netanyahu or his wife were in daily contact with Elovich and Walla executives to promote favorable stories or limit unfavorable coverage.
Netanyahu said he was too busy to enjoy the amenities he was accused of accepting from benefactors, also among the charges he faces in his criminal trial. In on of the counts, he is accused of accepting valuable gifts and a steady supply of expensive cigars and Champaign from movie mogul Arnon Milchan.
"I work 17, 18-hour days and eat lunch at my desk. I occasionally enjoy a good cigar but never manage to spoke it entirely because I am interrupted by my work," he said. "I hate Champaign," he added
Netanyahu's testimony was the opening of the defense's presentation in the trial that has already been underway for four years. He will testify for the defense and then face cross examination by the prosecution.
He was not forced to testify and chose to do so to improve his chances of acquittal but has tried repeatedly to delay his testimony citing the needs of the war. Since he told the Supreme Court that the criminal proceedings against him would not prevent him from carrying out the duties of prime minister and was therefore spared from having to recuse himself for the duration of the trial, that argument came with some risk.
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His testimony on Tuesday was periodically interrupted by his aids who handed him notes believed to be about matters of state and at a number of occasions, his testimony was stopped to allow him to deal with the matters at hand.
He is expected to testify until 4 pm and continue on Wednesday.