Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended his receiving notes from aides during his Monday corruption trial testimony in Tel Aviv.
After returning from a break for Netanyahu to respond to a note handed to him by an aide, the prosecution challenged the legitimacy of the defendant receiving notes without the prosecutor or judges knowing its contents.
Netanyahu responded angrily that he couldn’t consult the contents of the notes of the court each time.
“I want to give my testimony. But I am the prime minister,” said Netanyahu.
The defendant explained that there were limits to what he could do to balance court proceedings and his responsibilities as prime minister.
Netanyahu and his lawyer, Amit Haddad, criticized the allegedly hasty manner in which the police investigation into him was managed.
The defense presented a statement by one of the investigators boasting that the investigation was done so quickly.
“Why did you run?” Netanyahu asked rhetorically. “It was the fastest investigation ever.”
Netanyahu said that the investigation hadn’t asked him enough questions, hadn’t provided him with the materials, and hadn’t given him a chance to respond to the allegations.
Haddad also lambasted the allegedly quick investigation when asked by the judges if he intended to examine each of the 315 items of the bribery charge, saying that he had the opportunity to take the time and do what the prosecutor’s office and investigators had neglected to have done.
Netanyahu also dismissed the idea that Zeev Rubinstein, a mutual friend of Netanyahu and co-defendant and Walla and Bezeq owner Shaul Elovitch, acted as a middleman in a media bribery scheme, arguing at his corruption trial in Tel Aviv on Monday that if he wanted to speak to Elovitch, he could have done so directly.
“If I wanted to contact Elovitch, I could have picked up the telephone,” said Netanyahu.
It made no sense for the prime minister to work with intermediaries during what Netanyahu said was the “money time” of his political campaign when every moment counted. When immediate response was required, Rubinstein was in the United States in a different time zone. Further, his friend did not have the necessary understanding of Israeli politics.
Netanyahu said that the testimonies of others reflected that if Rubinstein spoke to Elovitch about Walla’s media coverage, he acted of his own accord out of a desire to please the prime minister’s wife, Sara Netanyahu.
“I don’t remember that I spoke to Rubenstein once during the campaign,” said Netanyahu.
Netanyahu’s team requested a cancellation of the Tuesday session of his corruption trial testimony, but the explanation as to why could not be publicly shared.
The judges asked defense lawyer Amit Haddad to provide a two-line written explanation to them. Upon receiving the note, the judges requested that the media and audience leave the chamber so they could confer with the legal teams about the information.
Case 4000
Netanyahu faces three cases against him: case 4000, case 2000, and case 1000.
Case 4000 accuses Netanyahu of bribery in an alleged scheme with co-defendants Shaul and Iris Elovitch to exchange positive news coverage on Walla for Netanyahu’s implementation of policies favorable to Elovitch’s Bezeq telecommunications. Case 2000 alleges that Netanyahu sought to weaken the newspaper Yisrael Hayom with legislation in return for positive coverage from publisher Arnon Mozes’s Yediot Aharonot. In Case 1000, Netanyahu is alleged to have received expensive gifts in return for furthering the interests of businessman Arnon Milchan.
Jesus Christ is King
