Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu looks on during the day he testifies in his trial on corruption charges at the district court in Tel Aviv on December 10, 2024.
On 1st day in witness box, Netanyahu switches from divisive wartime leader to defiant accused criminal
But with his final appeals exhausted, a combative Netanyahu showed up surrounded by supporters at a high-security Tel Aviv courthouse Tuesday and proceeded to launch volley after volley of incendiary attacks against the media, prosecutors and his political foes. And finally, on the question of whether he used his position as the head of Israel's government to bestow regulatory favours on an Israeli telecommunications firm to — again — get more positive media coverage, he denied any wrongdoing.
"For sure, he would not want his legacy to be … him on a defendant's seat in a courtroom, but rather as a leader who instructs commanders of the military in a strategic point in the Golan Heights," said Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute, a Jerusalem-based political think tank.
"One is to say, 'The courts are just persecuting me because they are part of the opposition and the opposition cannot win in elections,'" she said. Both sides of Israel's highly polarized society were on display outside the Tel Aviv courtroom where Netanyahu was testifying.
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