Israeli PM Netanyahu testifies in corruption trial

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00:00We're going to stay in Israel now because the other big news of the day there is that

00:05Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the witness stand for the first time

00:09in his long-running corruption trial.

00:11He's the first ever Israeli leader to be charged with a crime, or the first sitting Israeli

00:17leader to be charged with a crime.

00:19The Israeli leader has promised to finally on Tuesday to knock down the allegations,

00:23calling the charges against him absurd while also slamming the legal system and the media.

00:28Let's get more on this and speak to France 24's correspondent, Noga Tanepolsky, who

00:32joins us from Jerusalem.

00:35So Noga, Netanyahu began his witness testimony today.

00:39Tell us what today's trial was like.

00:46Adrenaline.

00:47It definitely had that feeling of history in the making.

00:50It's a very unusual sight to be crammed into a small bunker-like courtroom and have the

00:57head of government answering questions in his own criminal trial.

01:02That said, Netanyahu appears to be mounting much more of a political defense than a legal

01:09defense.

01:10He almost repeated to the judges his speech from last night, from a press conference last

01:16night.

01:18As you said, Yinka, he was slamming the Israeli media as being a political party that opposes

01:24him.

01:26He slammed the judiciary.

01:27And in fact, he mocked the proceedings.

01:29He didn't just return time after time to that word absurd, but he seemed to acknowledge

01:36some of the allegations against him.

01:40Instead of saying, no, I did not do as you alleged, he said, of course I did.

01:45That's how any prime minister, any head of government would behave, thus making a mockery

01:50of the laws, you know, ethical journalism laws themselves and the entire judicial proceedings.

01:57So Israeli legal analysts today seem quite split, I would say, about the potential effectiveness

02:05of this method.

02:08The question is, will the judges fall under his spell, like for many years much of the

02:14Israeli public did, and consider his claim that the laws such as they are or the claims

02:20simply are not relevant to him?

02:24Or could this approach boomerang against him when the judges say, well, you may think the

02:30laws don't apply to you, but here we are to tell you they do?

02:34And of course, Noga Netanyahu is the first sitting Israeli leader to be charged with

02:40a crime.

02:41It's coming at a time where he has a lot on his plate with the situation in the Middle East.

02:46Is he going to be able to govern effectively with all that he's got going on?

02:52That's the huge question.

02:54That's the elephant in the room here.

02:56Netanyahu was only allowed to run for prime minister as an indicted criminal, really by

03:03the skin of his teeth.

03:05There's a loophole in Israeli law.

03:08When the lawmakers wrote in the law books that no minister can remain in post if he

03:15or she is indicted, they forgot to specify that this also counts for the prime minister.

03:20Netanyahu used this loophole to run for office.

03:23Still, as an indicted criminal, he was forced to sign a non-conflict of interest agreement.

03:30Part of that, he acknowledged that he would have to show up and testify in trial, and

03:35he claimed he could do so perfectly well while running the country.

03:40And today, we already began to see the first cracks in this method.

03:44He received several times during the proceedings little notes or a top-secret envelope.

03:49He requested pauses, and many people here think that he's laying the groundwork even

03:55fairly quickly to once again ask the court to simply delay the entire trial again.

04:02One of the reasons this trial has gone on now for a full five years before he started

04:07testifying is because Netanyahu's methods more or less succeeded, and the big question

04:12now is will the judges accept this claim again?

04:16Well, we'll have to see how it all plays out.

04:19Noga, thanks so much for bringing us up to speed there.

04:21That's Noga Tanepolsky, France 24's correspondent in Jerusalem, there for us.

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