Netanyahu testifes in long-running corruption trial

TEL AVIV

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Dec. 10 that he has long experienced negative press coverage while dealing with critical national affairs as the premier testified for the first time in his corruption case.

Netanyahu is the first sitting prime minister of Israel to face a criminal trial as he faces charges of bribery, fraud and breach of public trust in three separate cases.

In the first case, Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, are accused of accepting more than $260,000 worth of luxury goods such as cigars, jeweler and champagne from billionaires in exchange for political favors.

“This is total lies. I work 17, 18 hours a day. Everyone who knows me knows this,” Netanyahu told the judges.

“That’s how I work. I eat my meals at my work table. It’s not cordon bleu, it’s not waiters coming with white gloves. I go to bed at 1 or 2 at night, I have almost no time to see my family.”

The prime minister said, “Sometimes I sit with a cigar and I can’t smoke it all at once because I smoke them between meetings.”

“I hate champagne, I can’t drink it.” He called accusations that he is seeking “enjoyment and leisure” to be “simply ridiculous.”

The other two cases alleged that Netanyahu attempted to negotiate more favorable coverage in two Israeli media outlets.

Other two cases involve alleged attempts by the prime minister to reach a deal with Arnon Mozes, publisher of the popular Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth, for better coverage by agreeing to weaken the status of a rival daily newspaper and with his close friend Shaul Elovitch, the owner of popular news website Walla.

In the hearing on Dec. 10, Netanyahu argued that a massive media backlash against him began after former U.S. President Barack Obama's moves towards the Muslim world and his demand for a complete freeze on settlement construction in the occupied West Bank.

His wife “has also undergone a terrible character assassination,” Netanyahu said, adding that she goes to visit cancer patients, lone soldiers.

Netanyahu said that “if I wanted good press, I could have taken the agenda of the left and then I wouldn’t be standing here today.”

Several people, including anti-Netanyahu protesters and his supporters, gathered outside the court, while some right-wing lawmakers attended the session, which was held in an underground chamber for security reasons.