Netanyahu wraps up trial testimony after 98 hearings across 18 months

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu completed his testimony in his corruption trial on Wednesday, after testifying in 98 hearings over the course of 18 months in the three cases for which he is standing trial.

Netanyahu’s first day on the witness stand was December 10, 2024, but his testimony was repeatedly delayed for health reasons, diplomatic trips abroad, and numerous requests to cancel and shorten hearings due to pressing security and diplomatic concerns requiring his attention.

Prosecutors finished their cross-examination of Netanyahu several hearings ago, but the prime minister’s lawyer Amit Hadad recalled him to the stand to underline certain points of the defense. Hadad informed the court on Wednesday that he had completed the repeat examination.

Netanyahu ended his testimony with a fierce attack on the prosecutors, describing the investigation, indictment, and trial against him as “10 years of hell” that he claimed was driven by a political vendetta against him.

“The goal was to go through with a fine-tooth comb, to look for something; they found nothing. They interrogated all my relatives and family, methods of interrogation that are unbelievable. They destroyed families. They weren’t looking for a crime, they were looking for a person and they found nothing,” Netanyahu alleged.

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“This was an attempt to harm — a direct and deliberate harm, a political assassination — to prevent the citizens of Israel from electing who they want,” he claimed.

Netanyahu is charged with three counts of fraud and breach in cases 1000, 2000, and 4000, and one count of taking a bribe, in the form of positive media coverage, in Case 4000. He denies any wrongdoing.

The trial, which began in May 2000, is expected to continue for several more months as the remaining defense witnesses give testimony.

The hearings for Netanyahu’s testimony were conducted in the Tel Aviv District Court since the Jerusalem District Court did not have adequate security measures for the prime minister. The proceedings will now return to Jerusalem.

In Case 1000, Netanyahu is accused of accepting luxury gifts worth hundreds of thousands of shekels from Hollywood mogul Arnon Milchan, while performing certain favors and providing assistance to Milchan as a result of this relationship.

In Case 2000, the prime minister is alleged to have made a quid pro quo agreement with the publisher of the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, Arnon Mozes, whereby Yedioth would give the prime minister more positive media coverage in exchange for legislation weakening its key rival, the Israel Hayom free sheet.

And in Case 4000, Netanyahu is accused of authorizing regulatory decisions that financially benefited Bezeq telecommunications giant shareholder Shaul Elovitch by hundreds of millions of shekels, and that in return, Netanyahu received favorable media coverage from the Walla news site, which Elovitch also owned.