Loading
The smallYour browser does not support the element. but noisy groups of protesters shouting at each other outside the Tel Aviv District Court on December 10th agreed on one thing. It was absurd for the man running a country, with wars on several fronts, to spend three days a week in court defending himself against complex corruption charges. Critics of Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s first serving prime minister to appear as a witness in his own defence in a criminal trial, think he should resign and face his manifold legal challenges as an ordinary citizen.His supporters, however, are convinced he is indispensable. They consider the whole case a witch-hunt that should be called off. As for Mr Netanyahu, in recent weeks he has tried in vain to get a security assessment that it was dangerous for him to attend court at fixed times in the same place. Then he said he had too little time to prepare his testimony. Finally, he denied ever having tried to delay the show. “I’ve waited eight years for this moment,” he told the court. “I’m a marathon-runner” who can prevail “with 20kg on my back”.The investigations into Mr Netanyahu’s affairs began in 2016. Charges of fraud and bribe-taking were laid against him five years ago. He is accused of accepting illicit gifts from rich benefactors and colluding with media barons to get favourable coverage. He strenuously denies all the charges.At the start of his testimony Mr Netanyahu claimed that what the media say about him “is not really important”, then went on to explain in detail how journalism in Israel works and defended his meetings with publishers and editors to influence journalistic appointments.The case has dragged on so long for many reasons, including covid-19, the war against Hamas since October 7th 2023, delaying tactics by Mr Netanyahu’s defence team, and the slow pace of Israel’s courts. Judges are overloaded partly because Mr Netanyahu’s coalition has tried to change the judicial-appointments system and, having failed to do so, has been obstructing the existing process.Mr Netanyahu’s legal travails have been responsible for forcing the country to hold five elections in four years, as centrist parties have refused to join a government led by an indicted prime minister. In 2021 he lost power for 18 months but came back at the end of 2022 with a coalition supported by far-right and religious parties that share his hostility to Israel’s courts.The ambitious judicial reforms that he promoted last year aimed to weaken the Supreme Court and independent legal counsel to government but were largely stymied by a massive wave of protest. They were then dropped in the name of national unity after last year’s war in Gaza began.But in recent months his government has restarted the campaign to increase control of parts of the state. This includes laws now going through the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, that would let politicians fire the attorney-general and control the appointments of the commissioner of the civil service and of the ombudsman investigating complaints against judges. Other laws would grant members of parliament virtual immunity from investigation and would defund or privatise Israel’s stubbornly independent broadcasting corporation. In his autobiography in 2022 Mr Netanyahu says he has “always been a staunch believer in liberal democracy” and been “immersed since my teens in its classical texts”. That assertion may be tested under cross-examination by the prosecution.Mr Netanyahu is the first of many witnesses for the defence. It could be years before a verdict is reached. But Israel’s courts have held Israeli leaders to account before. Ehud Olmert, a former prime minister, was jailed for bribery. Mr Netanyahu is determined to avoid that fate. But by clinging to power by every means, he may undermine Israel’s democracy.
