Benjamin Netanyahu appeared in court on Tuesday to testify in a corruption trial that could see him imprisoned for up to a decade if he’s found guilty.
The long-running legal troubles of Israel’s prime minister “bitterly divided Israelis and shook Israeli politics through five rounds of elections” – even before the 7 October attack by Hamas, and the regional turmoil it sparked, “swept Netanyahu’s trial off the agenda”, said Reuters.
Now he has the dubious honour of becoming “the first sitting prime minister of Israel” to testify “in a criminal court”, a “low point in the career of a man who has dominated his nation’s politics for three decades”, said The Times.
What is Netanyahu accused of?
Netanyahu was first indicted in 2019 on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. His trial, which began in 2020, involves three separate criminal charges.
Case 1000 centres on charges alleging that Netanyahu and his wife wrongfully received almost 700,000 shekels (£150,000) in gifts – including champagne and cigars – from Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan and Australian businessman James Packer.
Case 2000 involves allegations that Netanyahu negotiated a deal, with the owner of Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, for better coverage in return for legislation to slow the growth of a rival newspaper.
Case 4000 brings charges alleging that Netanyahu granted regulatory favours, worth around 1.8 billion shekels (£395 million), to Bezeq Telecom Israel in exchange for positive coverage of himself and his wife Sara.
Netanyahu denies all charges and has pleaded not guilty in each case.
He has already been cleared in Case 3000, which centred on charges concerning the government’s procurement of German-made submarines.
What has Netanyahu said about the trial?
Netanyahu has denounced the charges as an “ocean of absurdity”, said The Times.
“I took criticism and attacks, insults, libel and lies, in a scope that very few people, and no one in Israel has ever faced,” the Israeli PM said in court.
The trial is “at the heart of a deep political rift among Israelis about Netanyahu’s character, and has led to half a decade of political instability”, said The New York Times.
Netanyahu’s supporters blame a “liberal deep state” that’s “trying to oust him by judicial means, after failing to do so at the ballot box”. His opponents, meanwhile, accuse him of “prolonging both the war and the trial to keep himself in power and out of jail”.
The defence team has repeatedly sought to postpone proceedings since the trial began, nearly five years ago, citing Israel’s precarious defence situation since the 7 October Hamas attacks. This week, however, judges rejected renewed calls to delay Netanyahu’s testimony, following the fall of the Assad regime in Syria.
In 2022, in what some believe was a move directly linked to the trial, Netanyahu’s far-right government “sought to curb the power of the court”. This “sparked mass protests in Israel, and fears among Western allies for the country’s democratic health”, said Reuters.
Netanyahu “largely abandoned” this plan after war broke out, but he recently “revived some anti-judiciary rhetoric”, as the date of his testimony approached.
“The Bibi Files”, a new documentary, directed by Alexis Bloom and produced by Alex Gibney, that looks into the charges against the Israeli PM “exposes not only Netanyahu’s tangled web of media, politics and money, but also a devastating connection between the drive for political survival and a willingness to jeopardise the country’s population and dismantle its institutions”, said the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
What happens if Netanyahu’s found guilty?
Netanyahu’s testimony is expected to continue, on and off, for several weeks.
The charges carry a maximum sentence of ten years’ imprisonment, but Israel’s legal system is “notoriously sluggish” and “a verdict is not expected until 2026 at least”, said The Associated Press.
While opponents have called for Netanyahu to stand down, under Israeli law, a prime minister “is under no obligation” to do so “unless convicted”. And, even then, “they could keep their office throughout an appeals process”, said Reuters.