Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu testified on December 10, claiming that he has long faced negative press coverage while managing critical national issues. This was his first appearance in his corruption trial.
Netanyahu is the first sitting Israeli prime minister to face criminal charges, which include bribery, fraud, and breach of public trust in three separate cases.
In the first case, Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, are accused of accepting over $260,000 worth of luxury gifts, such as cigars, jewelry, and champagne, from billionaires in exchange for political favors.
“These are complete lies. I work 17, 18 hours a day. Everyone who knows me knows this,” Netanyahu told the court.
“That’s how I operate. I eat my meals at my desk. It’s not gourmet food, and I don’t have waiters in white gloves. I go to bed at 1 or 2 a.m., and I hardly see my family.”
The prime minister added, “Sometimes I sit with a cigar, but I can’t smoke it all at once because I do it between meetings.”
“I don’t like champagne, and I can’t drink it.” He dismissed the allegations suggesting he sought “pleasure and relaxation” as “utterly absurd.”
The other two cases involve claims that Netanyahu tried to negotiate favorable media coverage with two Israeli news outlets.
In these cases, Netanyahu allegedly sought to strike deals with Arnon Mozes, publisher of the leading Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth, to improve his coverage in exchange for harming a competing newspaper’s status. The other case involves his interactions with Shaul Elovitch, owner of the news website Walla.
During his testimony, Netanyahu argued that a significant media backlash against him started after former U.S. President Barack Obama’s efforts to engage with the Muslim world and his call for a complete halt to settlement construction in the West Bank.
He also mentioned that his wife, Sara, had been subjected to a “brutal character assassination,” adding that she frequently visits cancer patients and lone soldiers.
Netanyahu remarked, “If I wanted favorable press, I could have adopted the left-wing agenda, and I wouldn’t be standing here today.”
Outside the courthouse, both anti-Netanyahu protesters and his supporters gathered. Some right-wing lawmakers also attended the hearing, which took place in an underground chamber for security reasons.
