Premier to testify in his graft trial
Aviv 3 times a week, 6 hours a day until end of December; his defense attorneys will question him first, followed by cross-examination.
The criminal trial in the case of The State of Israel versus Benjamin Netanyahu will take a critical turn this week as the defendant, the prime minister of Israel, takes the witness stand to answer questions put to him, first by his defense lawyers and then by the prosecution.
Israel, already in the uncharted territory of having a serving prime minister on trial, will plow even further into terra incognita with the premier required to testify in court for six hours a day, two or three days a week.
So, how will Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s testimony unfold? He denies wrongdoing and says the charges were fabricated in a political coup led by the police and state prosecution.
Case 1000 revolves around allegations that Netanyahu and his wife Sara received expensive gifts illicitly from Hollywood media mogul Arnon Milchan worth some NIS 700,000 and that Netanyahu violated conflict of interest laws when he provided Milchan with assistance in renewing his long-term US residency visa and sought to help him with tax issues.
In Case 2000, the prime minister is accused of fraud and breach of trust over his alleged attempt to reach a quid pro quo agreement with the publisher of the Yedioth Aharaonot newspaper Arnon (Noni) Mozes, whereby Yedioth would give the prime minister more positive media coverage in exchange for legislation weakening its key rival, the Israel Hayom free sheet.
Case 4000, also known as the Bezeq-Walla case, is the most serious the prime minister faces, in which he is accused of authorizing regulatory decisions that financially benefited Bezeq telecommunications giant shareholder Shaul Elovitch by hundreds of millions of shekels. In return, Netanyahu allegedly received favorable media coverage from the Walla news site, which Elovitch also owned.
