JERUSALEM – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared briefly in a Jerusalem courtroom on Monday to formally respond to allegations of corruption a few 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 accepting bribes in three separate cases. In recent months, Israelis have held weekly protests asking them to resign over the charges and criticism of the government’s response to the coronavirus crisis. Protesters gathered outside the courthouse could be heard inside the room where the trial was being 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 latest trial was adjourned last month due to restrictions on public gatherings.
Israel’s longest-serving leader is also the first sitting prime minister to face corruption. Israeli law requires cabinet ministers to resign if charged with criminal offenses, but does not pay specific attention to the case of a prime minister under indictment.
Netanyahu has denied any wrongdoing and dismissed the charges against him as a ‘witch hunt’ orchestrated by biased law enforcers and the media. He refused to step down and used his office as a bullying pulpit against critics and the criminal justice system.
Netanyahu submitted a written response to the allegations during the trial on Monday. His lawyer argued on procedural grounds against the cases, saying the attorney general did not approve the investigation. After about 20 minutes, Netanyahu leaves the courtroom without explanation and leaves his car. The trial continued in his absence.
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At the start of his trial in May last year, Netanyahu was flanked by a group of Likud party allies as he competed against the media, police, judges and prosecutors. He said the trial was aimed at “overthrowing a strong, right-wing prime minister and thus removing the nationalist camp from the country’s leadership for years.”
Netanyahu has served as Israel’s prime minister since 2009, and has managed to hang on to power over the past two years through three turbulent, dead-end elections. His weak governing coalition collapsed in December, and he is now facing a major battle for re-election in the March 23 parliamentary election.
Netanyahu is hoping to launch a campaign to get the country out of the pandemic through one of the world’s most successful vaccination campaigns. He boasts that he personally insured millions of doses from major drug manufacturers, which enabled Israel to vaccinate more than a third of its 9.3 million population. He hopes to vaccinate the entire adult population by the end of March.
But his government has come under heavy criticism over other aspects of its response to the crisis. The country is only now beginning to emerge from its third nationwide exclusion, and the closures have skyrocketed unemployment.
An emergency government set up last May to curb the outbreak of the coronavirus has been caught in a dilemma. The country’s leaders have struggled to establish consistent policies and have repeatedly accused each other of playing politics with the pandemic. Israel, meanwhile, has reported nearly 700,000 cases since the outbreak began, including 5,121 deaths.
One major controversy concerns Israel’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, many of which have openly disputed restrictions on public gatherings. Netanyahu will need the ultra-Orthodox parties to form a ruling coalition, and his critics accuse him of wrapping their transgressions.
Polls show that Netanyahu’s Likud wins the most seats, but is struggling to form a 61-seat majority coalition in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament. The victory margin can be extremely tight, which could potentially cause a small outside party to decide who heads the next government.