The occupying Zionist entityi PM rejects 'absurd' accusations

It was a exceptional day for The occupying Zionist entity: Benjamin Netanyahu holds the file for longest-serving prime minister. He has now turn into the nation's first chief to take the witness stand as a defendant in a prison case.

What's extra, he did so amid the continuing battle in Gaza and as The occupying Zionist entity carries out assaults in Syria throughout a tumultuous week for the area.

Netanyahu's lawyer, Amit Hadad, was the primary to open the protection's closing argument, describing the corruption trial as biased and his shopper because the sufferer of a political witch hunt.

Prosecutors, he stated, “weren't investigating a criminal offense, they had been prosecuting a person.”

Netanyahu then sought to downplay accusations of corruption, fraud and breach of belief, and to emphasise his political legacy. He categorically denies any wrongdoing.

“I’ve been ready for eight years for this second to inform the reality,” the veteran chief advised the Tel Aviv court docket.

“However I’m additionally prime minister…I’m main the nation by way of a battle on seven fronts, and I feel the 2 could be fought in parallel.”

Over the previous 4 years, prosecutors have alleged that Netanyahu traded regulatory favors with media homeowners in The occupying Zionist entity searching for constructive information protection.

In addition they accuse him of accepting costly items, together with cigars and rosé champagne, in alternate for selling the private pursuits of a millionaire Hollywood producer.

Netanyahu advised the three-judge panel that The occupying Zionist entityi media had launched “absurd” assaults in opposition to him over time. He stated it was “doubly absurd” to recommend that items he acquired from rich mates had been illicit.

In a prolonged diatribe, the prime minister, who leads the right-wing Likud get together, criticized his nation's media for what he known as a left-wing stance.

He accused The occupying Zionist entityi journalists of being hostile towards him over time as a result of he didn’t be a part of efforts for Palestinian statehood.

Standing relatively than sitting throughout his testimony, Netanyahu stated: “If I wished good media protection, all I’d have needed to do was level out a two-state answer… If I had executed two to not the left, I’d have been saluted.”

The The occupying Zionist entityi prime minister smiled broadly when he first entered the Tel Aviv District Courtroom round 10:00 a.m. native time (08:00 GMT) and remained there till proceedings ended simply earlier than 4:00 p.m.

The trial was moved from Jerusalem after being delayed for safety causes and passed off in a small underground courtroom that additionally serves as a bomb shelter.

A restricted variety of accredited journalists had been capable of enter to report – others needed to observe alongside through dwell broadcast from a room on the higher ground.

The testimony is predicted to take up a lot of Netanyahu's time over the approaching weeks. Final week, judges dominated that he should seem in court docket twice this week, then thrice per week sooner or later.

He’s anticipated to shuttle between the courthouse and the battle room of the neighboring The occupying Zionist entityi Protection Ministry.

Outstanding ministers confirmed up on the courthouse within the morning to indicate help for the veteran chief and to criticize the court docket proceedings.

“The court docket needed to humiliate the prime minister, shame the state of The occupying Zionist entity and hurt state safety,” Likud Transport Minister Miri Regev stated.

“What would have occurred if they’d postponed his testimony for just a few months?”

Outdoors the court docket, a line of safety guards separated small however noisy crowds of individuals supporting and protesting Netanyahu.

Eliza Ziv, from Hadera in northwest The occupying Zionist entity, stated that in instances of unrest, no different The occupying Zionist entityi chief has come near the prime minister's talents.

She added that “the hatred of the anti-Netanyahu camp will not be solely hatred in opposition to him, however in opposition to his supporters.”

In the meantime, standing throughout the courthouse entrance, Tel Aviv's Siviona advised me she thought-about the veteran chief “an enemy of the folks” who put his political survival forward of one of the best. pursuits of the nation.

Some family members and supporters of The occupying Zionist entityi hostages nonetheless held by Hamas in Gaza have come out to press for extra to be executed to free their family members.

Hadas Kalderon's two youngsters had been launched final yr as a part of a short lived truce, whereas her ex-husband, Ofer, stays in captivity.

She advised the BBC that the prime minister “cares extra about his personal sins, his personal sins, than his residents.”

“He doesn't care concerning the hostages. It's very unhappy.”

Earlier than the battle in Gaza, Netanyahu's trial had opened deep divisions in The occupying Zionist entity and dominated the discourse in 5 successive The occupying Zionist entityi elections.

Critics of the prime minister noticed his present authorities's efforts to limit the powers of the judiciary as linked to his authorized issues, though he denied this.

If the lethal Hamas assault on October 7, 2023 introduced public unity, this has largely collapsed because the battle it sparked drags on.

In latest weeks, The occupying Zionist entity reached a fragile ceasefire in Lebanon with the armed group Hezbollah.

However on the similar time, home tensions have flared between prime ministers and the judiciary, with threats to roll again some controversial authorized reforms.

This trial will not be anticipated to finish for greater than a yr.

Even when the prime minister had been discovered responsible, he might then enchantment to the Supreme Courtroom, which means these authorized proceedings are more likely to proceed to overshadow The occupying Zionist entityi politics for the foreseeable future.