Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised defiantly on Tuesday to refute the corruption allegations against him as he began testifying in his long-running trial.
Netanyahu was accused of accepting tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of cigars and champagne from a billionaire Hollywood producer in exchange for assistance with personal and business interests.
The Israeli Prime Minister was also accused of promoting advantageous regulations for media moguls in exchange for favourable coverage of himself and his family.
Netanyahu has become the first sitting Israeli leader to take the stand as a criminal defendant at the same time as he faces an international arrest warrant for war crimes accusations.
In his opening testimony in a packed Tel Aviv courtroom, Netanyahu portrayed himself as a dedicated leader and a defender of Israel’s interests, swatting away the charges against him as a “drop in the sea” compared to the challenges he has faced protecting his country.
Speaking freely and appearing at ease, he said he could balance appearing at his trial with his duties as prime minister at a time when Israel is still fighting a war in Gaza and contending with the fall of Bashar Assad in neighbouring Syria.
“I waited eight years for this moment, to say the truth,” Netanyahu said, standing at a podium, with his son, Avner and several members of his Likud Party seated on the courtroom benches.
He said his testimony would “poke holes in the absurd accusations.”
Netanyahu will answer during his court appearances to charges of fraud, breach of trust, and accepting bribes in three separate cases.
Netanyahu has denied all the allegations, claiming that the charges were a witch-hunt orchestrated by a hostile media and a biased legal system out to topple his lengthy rule.
His testimony caps years of scandals that have swirled around him and his family.
The charges against Netanyahu have cast another shadow over the country’s longest-serving leader and complicated his legacy, dividing Israel, sparking protests and a political crisis over Netanyahu’s fitness to serve under indictment.
Netanyahu’s testimony took place in an underground, fortified courtroom for security reasons.
He told his version of events and shared personal details about his life that he might hope would shape the judges’ perception of him.
Netanyahu said at the start of his career, 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.
Admitting that he smoked cigars, Netanyahu said he could hardly finish them because of his workload, and hated champagne.
Ahead of the testimony’s start, Netanyahu’s lawyer, Amit Hadad, accused the Israeli justice system of making up the charges to ensnare Netanyahu.
“There was a huge effort to find a few pieces of a puzzle that don’t connect to each other,” Haddad said, as Netanyahu sat on a bench behind him. “In court, in the light of day, we see everything falls apart.”
The testimony, set to take place six hours a day, three days a week for several weeks, will take up a significant chunk of Netanyahu’s working hours, prompting critics to ask if he can capably manage a country embroiled in a war on one front, containing the fallout from a second, and keeping tabs on other potential regional threats, including from Iran or the recent fall of Bashar Assad in Syria.
Netanyahu, in his testimony, said he could “find a balance” among those commitments.
Under Israeli law, indicted prime ministers are not required to step down. But the charges against 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.
Netanyahu’s supporters view the charges as the result of bias and overreach by the justice system.
Despite the pressure, Netanyahu has rejected calls to step down and has used his position as prime minister to lash out at law enforcement, media, and courts.
An Israeli court rejected a request by Netanyahu’s lawyers to reduce the expected number of hours of testimony, as well as several other requests to delay its start, which they said were necessary because of the prime minister’s busy schedule and the country’s significant challenges.
A verdict is not expected until 2026 at the earliest and Netanyahu will have the option to appeal to the Supreme Court.