In court, Netanyahu bangs on table, protests order to hurry up; judge tells him to lower his voice

During the 17th day of his testimony in his corruption trial, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu makes an impassioned request for judges to allow him to go into more detail in countering some of the claims against him, banging on the table and being told to lower his voice.

Netanyahu also takes aim at state prosecutors, saying they “live in an alternate universe” and charging that “you have put me through hell.”

At the Tel Aviv District Court, the premier is asked by his lawyer Amit Hadad about the 46th item on the list of over 300 alleged cases of illicit attempted intervention by him or his aides in the coverage of the Walla news site. The indictment in Case 4000 asserts this was part of a bribery deal with the owner of Walla in exchange for regulatory benefits for the owner’s other businesses.

The item is a demand for the news site to run a story about the Netanyahus going to the grave of the prime minister’s late brother Yoni — killed while leading the 1976 Operation Entebbe that rescued over 100 hostages from Uganda after terrorists hijacked a plane — ahead of Memorial Day.

“I wasn’t involved” in the request, Netanyahu says. “This isn’t a demand, it borders on a plea.”

He goes on to say: “Your honors, after 10 years I’m allowed to say this: So many things here are absurd, but how was this included in the indictment? The charge works in a different direction here, not against me.”

When at one point the judges tell him to hurry up and skip his response to some of the items on the list, Netanyahu protests, complaining that the case has been going on for 10 years and that he should be getting more time to counter the charges in detail.

Addressing Judge Rivka Friedman-Feldman, he says: “I usually am a very restrained person, but there is an unacceptable thing here. They took our lives and ruined them. I am carrying out my duties as prime minister at this time. I come here twice a week. But I deserve the right to shatter these absurd [allegations] and show everything is based on a complete lie. There is malicious recklessness by the investigators who didn’t check and didn’t question me [about certain allegations]. This cannot pass quietly.”

Netanyahu bangs on the table several times during the exchange, which sees Friedman-Feldman tell him to lower his voice.

The premier then is handed an envelope, reads its contents and asks for a break, which is granted.