WEST BANK (Dispatches) – Zionist Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, took the witness stand for the first time on Tuesday in his long-running corruption trial, saying he was being hounded for his hawkish security policies, Reuters reports.
Netanyahu, 75, is the Zionist regime’s first sitting prime minister to be charged with a crime. He is testifying at the same time the regime is engaged in a genocidal campaign in Gaza and facing possible new threats posed by regional turmoil, including in Syria.
Last week judges ruled that Netanyahu, indicted in 2019, must testify three times a week, forcing the long time Israeli officials to juggle between the courtroom and the war room at the regime’s war ministry, minutes away from the courthouse.
The leader of the right-wing Likud party, Netanyahu assailed the Israeli media for what he called its leftist stance and accused journalists of having hounded him for years.
Prosecutors accuse Netanyahu of granting regulatory favors worth around 1.8 billion shekels (about $500 million) to Bezeq Telecom Israel in return for positive coverage of himself and his wife, Sara, on a news website controlled by the company’s former chairman.
He is also accused of negotiating 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 paper.
Netanyahu denies the allegations against him and has pleaded not guilty. He stood rather than sat in the witness box throughout his morning testimony.
“Had I wanted good coverage all I would have had to have done would be to signal toward a two-state solution. […] Had I moved two steps to the left I would have been hailed,” he said.
In lengthy replies, he portrayed himself as a staunch defender of the regime, withstanding pressures from international powers and a hostile domestic media.