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From the moment he returned to the post of prime minister more than two years ago, Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu seemed to be doing everything he could to stop, postpone or avoid that day.
On Tuesday, the 75-year-old became the first sitting Israeli leader to appear as a defendant in a criminal case when he took the witness stand and began testifying in his own defense.
Netanyahu was indicted in 2019 for fraud, bribery and breach of trust, but his trial was repeatedly delayed, first because of the COVID-19 pandemic, then because of the attacks by Hamas on October 7, 2023, and later because his lawyers argued Israel’s ongoing wars against Hamas and Hezbollah made Netanyahu too busy to attend.
But with his latest appeals exhausted, a combative Netanyahu appeared surrounded by supporters at a high-security court in Tel Aviv on Tuesday and proceeded to launch volley after volley of inflammatory attacks on the media, prosecutors and their political enemies.
Answering softball questions from his own defense lawyer, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister spent most of his time as a witness dismissing the “left-wing” media, saying they are so irrelevant that he would never waste his time trying to win their favor, a key. aspect of the prosecution’s case against him.
On the three corruption charges he faces, he said it was “simply absurd” that he and his wife, Sara, accepted almost C$200,000 in gifts (cigars, champagne and jewelry) from wealthy businessmen in exchange for political favors
Accused of trading favors with the owners of a major Israeli newspaper to get positive coverage, Netanyahu went on another rant, accusing journalists and media outlets of “bias” and being a “great danger” for Israeli democracy.
And finally, on the question of whether he used his position as head of Israel’s government to grant regulatory favors to an Israeli telecommunications company to gain, again, more positive media coverage, he denied any wrongdoing.
“There was no ‘deal’, no corruption, no nothing,” he said, suggesting that all of the cases against him were politically motivated.
‘Witch Hunt’
The night before, in a combative press conference, Netanyahu called the trial a “political witch hunt” that had “ruined the lives of dozens of people” caught up in it.
For Israel’s prime minister and longest-serving leader, the personal and political stakes of the trial could not be greater.
If convicted, the criminal penalties can be up to 10 years in prison.
But as he began what is expected to be a month of testimony, Netanyahu appeared to be more concerned about his political legacy.
“Of course, I wouldn’t want his legacy to be … him in the defendant’s seat in a courtroom, but as a leader instructing army commanders at a strategic point in the Golan Heights,” he said. said Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute, a political think tank based in Jerusalem.
Plesner told CBC News that while Netanyahu got off to a predictably combative start, it’s unclear how his belligerence will play out once he faces questioning from prosecutors or has to speak directly to the court.
“Netanyahu is the most divisive figure in the country’s history,” Plesner said.
His supporters consider him a defender of Israel, who is tough on security and has a strong sense of Jewish national identity, Plesner said.
However, many of Netanyahu’s detractors blame him for eroding Israel’s democratic institutions, causing record levels of polarization in society and “overseeing the worst security catastrophe in the country’s history” with the 7/7 attacks. October, Plesner added.
As his testimony unfolds over the next month he is expected to be on the witness stand, observers expect Netanyahu to continue to attack the justice system for trying him while at the same time trying to drag out the process as much time as possible.
Defense strategy
“There are two layers to his defense,” said Gayil Talshir, author of a book on the politician and professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
“One is to say, ‘The courts are only going after me because I’m part of the opposition and the opposition can’t win elections,'” he said.
“The other line is that Netanyahu will say that he was not part of it … that he did not know much about the issues for which the state is prosecuting him, (that) he has more important security issues to deal with.”
Talshir also told CBC News that Netanyahu will likely continue to make the case as long as possible.
“He doesn’t want to reach a verdict,” he said.
In fact, Netanyahu’s political rivals accused him repeatedly of dragging the war into Gaza and sacrificing the lives of both Israeli and Palestinian hostages in Gaza to give him an excuse to avoid taking the witness stand.
Netanyahu’s Likud party is part of a coalition of far-right Jewish parties whose members have expressed a desire to continue the war, arguing that the best outcome for Israel would be to push large parts of the Palestinian population out of Gaza and resettle the country. territory with Jews.
Both sides of Israel’s highly polarized society were on display outside the Tel Aviv courtroom where Netanyahu was testifying.
Yael Navon was among the protesters calling for his immediate resignation, saying that being the defendant in a major criminal trial and leading the country are fundamentally incompatible.
“We all want our hostages out and in his position, he can’t do that,” he told CBC News.
Meanwhile, Asaf Sokolowski said he believed the charges against Netanyahu were politically motivated.
“We see this as an attack on us, his supporters. An attack on at least half of Israelis,” he said.
Netanyahu will also face legal problems if he ever leaves Israel.
Last month, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against him, charging Netanyahu with crimes against humanity in connection with Israel’s 14-month war in Gaza.
It has been too accused by rights groupslike Amnesty International, of leading a genocide against the Palestinians and waging an immoral war against civilians.
But as Netanyahu settled for what will be a push-and-pull marathon with prosecutors over the next month, the prime minister’s focus appeared solely on winning over a national audience.
In the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Canadian-Israeli columnist Dahlia Scheindlin wrote that Netanyahu gave lengthy answers to present himself as a “global statesman” and the only person capable of standing up to the “nefarious forces” challenging Israel.
It’s a line of defense that may have little relevance to the criminal charges he faces. But it could be very important in cementing his position with Israeli voters come election time.
