The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, came this Tuesday to testify for the first time in his corruption trial in a Tel Aviv court, which has a bomb bunker for security reasons.
“Sneak away? “I have been waiting eight years for this day to present the truth, to explode the delusional and unfounded accusations against me, and to reveal the method of this witch hunt,” the prime minister said Monday night in a rare press conference in which attacked several journalists.
Around 200 people gathered outside the court, including left-wing protesters calling for Netanyahu’s resignation, right-wing sympathizers, as well as representatives of the families of Hamas hostages in Gaza.
In the so-called case 1000, explains Haaretz, Netanyahu is accused of fraud and breach of trust over gifts he allegedly received from Hollywood mogul Arnon Milchan and billionaire James Packer. According to the indictment, Netanyahu received cigars and champagne from the two over several years.
Then-Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit wrote in the indictment that Netanyahu entered into a conflict of interest and used his public office to receive gifts.
The so-called case 2000, for its part, focuses on Netanyahu’s alleged desire to receive better coverage in one of the country’s main newspapers, Yedioth Ahronoth. In a series of meetings with the newspaper’s editor, Arnon Mozes, the two men allegedly discussed a bribery deal in which Netanyahu would try to limit distribution of the rival newspaper, Israel Hayom, owned by his former political patron, Sheldon Adelson. In return, Mozes would give Netanyahu favorable coverage.
In Case 4000, Netanyahu is alleged to have made decisions that benefited media mogul Shaul Elovitch – the majority shareholder in Bezeq, Israel’s largest telecommunications company – in exchange for positive coverage on Walla News, a website owned by by Elovitch.
Netanyahu and Elovitch would have engaged in a pro pro quid in which Netanyahu – who was Minister of Communications at the time of the alleged deal – directed regulatory efforts directly linked to Elovitch’s businesses and interests that netted the tycoon some $500 million. . It is considered the most serious of the three cases.
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