‘I’ve been waiting 8 years to tell the truth’: Netanyahu slams legal system, press ahead of court testimony

Some 14 hours before the start of his testimony in his corruption trial tomorrow morning, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dedicates much of his press conference — the first he has given in over three months — to castigating the legal system over the investigations that led to the charges, and to attacks on some of the journalists asking him questions.

Taking a question about why he hasn’t fired Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, Netanyahu says he is not allowed to be involved in that issue per a conflict of interests agreement he signed due to his ongoing criminal trial. He adds pointedly that the attorney general, who serves also as the government’s legal adviser, “is supposed to aid the government’s work, and not cause it to fail. That’s her job.”

Later, asked about his testimony, Netanyahu goes into a lengthy, passionate and seemingly pre-prepared rant, slamming accusations that he is trying to avoid his graft trial by repeatedly seeking to delay his testimony.

“What lies,” he charges. “Eight years I’ve been waiting for this day. Eight years I’ve been waiting to present the truth. Eight years I’ve been waiting to puncture for good the wild and ridiculous accusations against me. Eight years I’ve been waiting to expose the method, a cruel witch hunt… There was no crime, so they looked for a crime. They didn’t find a crime, so they concocted a crime.

“They arrest dozens of people around me, they ruin their lives, they extort them with threats so they’ll give false testimony… isolation, sleep deprivation,” he says angrily. “Everything so that they give false testimony.

“And if this doesn’t work, they use surveillance, surveillance they use against the worst terrorists. They strip them of all their privacy. And they say to them, think about your families. They won’t have an income. Scaring them, threats. We’ll take everything from you. Forging minutes. Getting rid of exculpatory evidence. Criminal leaks from the interrogations. And endless brainwashing of the public.”

“That is the method,” he says with the same indignation. “Not only in my interrogation. That is the method.

“After all that, I don’t want to talk? Tomorrow, I speak. It’s not me who’s dodging.”

He blames the press for avoiding reporting on what he described above, asking why they didn’t cover it. “I expect you to not dodge tomorrow and in the coming days. When I speak, cover it fairly for once. Let’s see you do it.”

Haaretz has reported that Netanyahu contacted ministers and lawmakers from his Likud party today and asked them to come tomorrow morning to the Tel Aviv District Court building, where his testimony will be held.

He says that despite the investigations, he was able to seal the Abraham Accords and lead the country through the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I am strong because I am driven by a sense of mission,” he says. “I am running a marathon. But you can run a marathon with 20 kilograms on your back, with 15 kilograms on your back, or 10 kilograms on your back.”

He says he is not asking for special treatment, but should not given especially harsh treatment in terms of the frequency of his court appearances. “I don’t ask for additional rights, but I shouldn’t have fewer rights,” he says.

He claims it’s extraordinary that he is being called to testify three times a week, adding that he could have been allowed to testify less frequently so he can run the war and the country.

“The entire public knows what is right, and what is expected,” he says.

On other subjects, Netanyahu is asked why Israel still hasn’t taken away Hamas’s control over humanitarian aid in Gaza, and says the country is not yet done destroying the terror group’s military capabilities. “Most of the work has been done; there is still some way left to go,” he says.

He says using local clans for distributing the aid didn’t work, so Israel is looking for other ways to take control of the aid from Hamas, adding that this is key to toppling Hamas’s rule.

“We are working currently on a plan to take it from them,” he says.

On the question of whether Israel can reach a hostage deal before US President-elect Donald Trump assumes office on January 20, Netanyahu says: “There are certain developments; it’s too early to say if they will yield results. We are trying all the time, all day, all night.”