AL-QUDS (Dispatches) – Former Zionist prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared in court on Monday to face a key prosecution witness in his corruption trial.
Netanyahu, who served as prime minister for 12 years until June, has pleaded not guilty to charges of bribery, breach of trust and fraud in cases that center on alleged regulatory favors he awarded to media tycoons in return for positive press coverage and receipt of gifts.
Netanyahu smiled under his black face mask as he walked into the Al-Quds District courtroom to hear the testimony of his former spokesman and close adviser Nir Hefetz.
“Netanyahu spends at least as much as his time on media as he spends on security matters, including on matters an outsider would consider nonsense,” Hefetz told the court.
Netanyahu, 72, is not required to attend the trial hearings and he has made few court appearances. He made no comment to reporters as slogans shouted outside in the street by a cluster of his supporters wafted into the courtroom who faced off with a small group of anti-Netanyahu protesters.