Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lashed out at prosecutors on Monday, accusing them of waging a "witch hunt" against him aimed at unseating a democratically elected leader.
The televised statement came just hours after the court heard opening arguments and the first testimony in Netanyahu's corruption trial.
"The entire process against me represents an abuse of the prosecutorial powers; this is what an attempted coup looks like," he said as he tried to dismantle the rationale for his indictment.
"As someone who cherishes the rule of law, I arrived in court today to hear the prosecutor, but when I had my pre-trial hearing and when my lawyers made the case for me, that very prosecutor was not present. This, more than anything else, proves that the hearing was just for show and that the outcome [the indictment] was pre-determined," he said.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter
"I would like to believe that the trial itself will be conducted differently, but I don't hold the State Attorney's Office to a high bar. Today in court I heard a lot of words being uttered about the abuse of power, but the entire process against me is a form of abuse of power on the part of the State Attorney's Office. They are on a witch hunt, they did not investigate or look for a crime, they looked for a person – me. The prosecution engaged in a cover-up, engaged in illegal searches, deleted recordings and ignored testimony and leaks on a massive scale. It used extortion on witnesses, to the point of threatening with the destruction of their families."
Netanyahu warned that the actions he was accused of pale in comparison to prosecutorial misconduct on display in his case. "This is the real harm to the rule of law, to ethical governance and democracy," he lamented.
Netanyahu is facing corruption charges in three cases: Case 1,000, which centers on the alleged receiving of gifts from powerful businessmen in exchange for favors promoting their interests, in which the prime minister is accused of fraud and breach of trust; Case 2,000, in which Netanyahu is suspected of offering to help improve the circulation of Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot in exchange for positive coverage and in which he is also accused of fraud and breach of trust; and Case 4,000, in which the PM is accused of allegedly promoting regulatory decisions that favored the interests of Shaul Elovitch, then the controlling shareholder of telecom giant Bezeq, in exchange for positive coverage Elovitch's Walla news website. In this case, Netanyahu is accused of bribery, fraud and breach of trust.
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
