JERUSALEM (AP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pleaded not guilty on Monday when his trial on corruption allegations was resumed in a Jerusalem courtroom just weeks before the national election, in which he hopes to extend his 12-year rule.
Netanyahu was charged last year with fraud, breach of trust and taking bribes in three separate cases. In recent months, Israelis have held weekly protests calling for him to resign over the allegations and criticize his government’s response to the coronavirus crisis. Protesters gathered outside the courthouse could be heard in the room where the hearing was held.
He is accused of accepting lavish gifts from wealthy friends and offering favors to powerful media moguls in exchange for favorable coverage of him and his family. The last hearing was postponed last month due to lockdown restrictions on public gatherings.
“Everyone knows that the cases against me have been faked,” Netanyahu said, adding that the prosecutors had not done it right. Still, he said keeping the evidence stage at this point would amount to “meddling” in the elections.
Israel’s longest-serving leader is also the first-sitting prime minister to stand trial for corruption. Israeli law requires cabinet ministers to resign when charged with criminal offenses, but they do not specifically address the case of a prime minister who has been charged.
Netanyahu has denied any wrongdoing and dismissed the charges against him as a “witch hunt” orchestrated by biased law enforcement and media. He has refused to resign and has used office as a pulpit against critics and the criminal justice system.
At Monday’s hearing, Netanyahu’s lawyers filed a written response pleading not guilty. They then objected to the cases on procedural grounds, saying that the Attorney General had not properly approved the investigations in writing.
After about 20 minutes, Netanyahu left the courtroom without explanation and left his column. His only comments to the court were that he had nothing to add to his attorney’s response to the charges.
The hearing continued in his absence, with his lawyers arguing for more than an hour that constitutional procedures had not been followed. The judges seemed skeptical and repeatedly called on the lawyers to finalize it. The prosecution then dismissed those arguments, saying the attorney general had approved the investigations in dozens of meetings.
The prime minister’s lawyers called on the court to delay the evidence hearings for several more months, claiming they did not have enough time to prepare. If allowed, the hearings would take place after the upcoming elections.
Outside the courthouse, about 150 protesters chanted against Netanyahu. Many carried banners that read “Crime Minister”.
“We want a new government, a pure government, not corruption,” said Sharon Sagy, a protester. “We don’t want Bibi Netanyahu, we want him to go, he has to go,” she said, using his nickname.
At the start of his trial last May, Netanyahu was flanked by a cohort of Likud Party allies as he spoke out against the media, police, judges and prosecutors. He said the aim of the trial was “to overthrow a strong right-wing prime minister and thus remove the nationalist camp from the leadership of the country for many years.”
Monday’s hearing was much more subdued. Netanyahu arrived at the courthouse unaccompanied by supporters and entered through a back entrance.
Netanyahu has been Israel’s prime minister since 2009 and has managed to hold on to power over the past two years through three tumultuous, stalled elections. His weak governing coalition collapsed in December and he now faces a major battle for re-election on March 23 parliamentary elections.
Netanyahu hopes to campaign to get the country out of the pandemic through one of the world’s most successful vaccination campaigns. He boasts that he has personally obtained millions of doses from major drug manufacturers, enabling Israel to vaccinate more than a third of its 9.3 million inhabitants. He hopes to vaccinate the entire adult population by the end of March.
But his administration has been severely criticized for other aspects of its response to the crisis. The country is only now starting to come out of its third national lockdown and the closures have caused unemployment to skyrocket.
An emergency government formed last May to combat the coronavirus outbreak is mired in bickering. The country’s leaders have struggled to pursue consistent policies and have repeatedly accused each other of playing politically with the pandemic. Israel has now reported nearly 700,000 cases since the outbreak began, including 5,121 deaths.
A major controversy concerns the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Israel, many of whom have openly violated restrictions on public gatherings. Netanyahu needs the ultra-Orthodox parties to form a ruling coalition, and his critics accuse him of turning a blind eye to their violations.
Polls show Netanyahu’s Likud wins the most seats, but struggles to form a 61-seat coalition in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament. The margin of victory can be extremely tight, potentially allowing for a small, fringe game to decide who will lead the next government.
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Associated Press writer Joseph Krauss in Jerusalem contributed to this report.