Netanyahu lashes out at law enforcement, says police tried to overthrow him and ‘trample on democracy’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accuses law enforcement establishments of being behind leaks of testimonies given to police years ago by key figures in his corruption cases.

He makes the claim during a trial hearing at the Tel Aviv District Court.

The testimonies in question were leaked to various Hebrew media outlets over the course of several weeks in 2019. At the time, Netanyahu’s Likud party unsuccessfully sought to prevent the publication of the leaks, asserting that they were intended to harm the party’s chances in the September 2019 elections.

Questioned about the leaks by his lawyer Amit Hadad, Netanyahu asserts that “one hundred percent of the leaked material from the investigation came from law enforcement.”

“There is no other explanation,” he says, adding that the leaks hurt him “immensely” and were intended to make him look like “a criminal who accepted bribes.”

Going on the attack, the premier asserts that the leaks were part of a wider effort by law enforcement — chiefly the Israel Police and the State Attorney’s Office — to “trample on democracy” and “influence the elections.”

“When 100 percent of the investigative material is in their hands, and then they pretend that they didn’t leak it, it’s a pile of lies,” he insists.

A short while later, Netanyahu is prompted into another anti-police tirade when asked by Hadad about his former chief of staff Ari Harow, who turned state witness in the premier’s corruption trial as part of a plea bargain.

“The police want to overthrow a prime minister. There is no crime, so they invent a crime, take the people closest to him and tell them to find something on him,” Netanyahu fumes.

“The police and the state attorney can say ‘we don’t like the prime minister, we want to replace him, so we’ll take the people closest to him. This is a crime on steroids, and it happens again and again and again,” he declares.

Then, asked by Hadad if he trusts law enforcement, Netanyahu declares that he feels as though he lives in “East Germany or Tehran.”

“They are corrupting the investigation, and making false accusations against me,” he says, reiterating: “They are all making false accusations and are trying to hunt me down.”

“What is this? What kind of dark regime do we have here? It’s monstrous,” he adds.

The day’s hearing ends shortly after, the court having accepted the prime minister’s request to cut it short because he had returned on an overnight flight after a visit to Washington and headed straight to the courthouse.