The Israeli prime minister described the court hearing as a “coup attempt”. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described his trial as a “coup attempt” after his trial.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday lashed out at state prosecutors after the first day of testimony in his corruption trial, accusing them of “hypocrisy” and of leading a “witch hunt” against him. He said the investigation and prosecution constitute an effort by police and prosecutors to “trample democracy” in Israel and subvert the will of the electorate.
He singled out lead prosecutor Liar Ben-Ari, who opened the prosecution case at Monday’s Jerusalem District Court hearing, claiming that while she had accused him in court of abuse of power, it was her prosecution team that had acted illegally.
In response, senior Justice Ministry and police officials said Netanyahu’s claims were false, accused him of seeking to intimidate the court, and warned his allegations placed prosecutors in danger.
Channel 13 on Monday night quoted police sources saying that security precautions already in place for Ben-Ari, who was specifically targeted in Netanyahu’s speech, would be reviewed in the wake of his comments.
Netanyahu appeared for the opening statements at the Jerusalem District Court, but was granted permission to leave before the first witness testified. The premier is on trial for fraud and breach of trust in three cases, and also faces a bribery charge in one of them. He denies wrongdoing and regularly claims without evidence that the charges were fabricated in order to remove him from power.
In a televised speech at his official residence, Netanyahu specifically took aim at lead prosecutor Ben-Ari’s charge, in her opening arguments, that the prime minister had abused his powers.
Today I heard highfalutin words [from Ben-Ari] on abuse of power. What hypocrisy. The entire process against me was marked by the heavy-handed abuse of the powers of… the prosecution,” Netanyahu said.
“The prosecution opened the investigations against the prime minister of Israel illegally… in breach of a Basic Law,” he added.
The prime minister was referring to Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit’s apparent failure to formally approve the probe in writing. During a February hearing, the court chided Mandelblit for the oversight, but dismissed a demand by Netanyahu’s lawyers to throw out the criminal indictments against the prime minister because of this.
“It’s a witch hunt. They didn’t investigate a crime, they didn’t look for a crime; they hunted for a man, they hunted me,” Netanyahu continued.
He claimed investigators ignored testimony that did not match their thesis, leaked material and extorted witnesses.
He said the October 2019 pre-indictment hearing process at which his lawyers tried to dissuade the attorney general from proceeding with the charges was a “foregone conclusion” and a “show,” even though his attorneys at the time said the process had been serious and that state prosecutors were attentive and listened at length to the defense arguments.
“This is how they try to overthrow a powerful prime minister from the right. This is what an attempted coup looks like,” the prime minister said. “What is happening is an effort to trample democracy, over and over again. They are attempting to annul the will of the electorate.”
Two weeks ago, however, the regime’s war minister, Benny Gantz, warned that Netanyahu intended to evade the trial by firing the attorney general.
