During Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s testimony in court on Monday in his ongoing trial, he handed judges an envelope requesting the cancellation of Wednesday’s scheduled hearing, citing an “urgent security matter.” The judges complied with his request.
Netanyahu’s hearing on Monday, continuing directly from last week’s hearing, focused on claims in Case 1000 about gifts he received from businessman Arnon Milchan.
During his testimony, Netanyahu leveled sharp accusations against Israel’s law enforcement system, saying that he is subject to selective enforcement. He argued that while he is being prosecuted for gifts he received, other senior officials—including the Attorney General, the former Military Advocate General, and former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen—also accepted gifts without facing investigation.
He referred to Tomer-Yerushalmi, saying, “She received gifts worth tens of thousands of dollars from a friend while in office. But I have no complaints against her about that.” He also pointed to former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who allegedly received pens valued at 1.2 million shekels.
“On gifts that are publicly known and dramatic, you said nothing,” Netanyahu said. “The Attorney General received tens of thousands of shekels, and Yossi Cohen not only used Packer’s apartment but also received $29,000 for a bar mitzvah. So I ask you: what exactly are your standards? There was no problem in all those cases, but for me, you changed the law and manufactured a case.”
Netanyahu also addressed the gifts he himself received from Milchan, defending them as ordinary gestures between friends. “I think it’s permissible to accept a box of cigars from a friend who visits every few months, and I believe you think so too,” he said.
Channel 12 News reported that Netanyahu said he relied on legal opinions he received from legal experts, who assured him that accepting gifts from friends is permissible. He cited advice from four figures: Adv. Yaakov Weinroth, z’l; the Prime Minister’s Office legal advisor, Shlomit Barnea Farago; Adv. David Shimron; and former Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein.
Netanyahu told the court, “My awareness is absolutely clear. I received explicit legal advice from Adv. Weinroth—one of the country’s leading lawyers—who told me, ‘You can accept gifts from friends.’ If I had even the slightest indication that I could not, I would not have accepted them.”
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
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One Response
Will they hold her in the kangaroo court for decades to discuss it? Probably not because her friends will be hired to handle the case and they’ll accidentally lose everything