From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, June 4, 2025
Netanyahu to court: ‘Milchan understood that I liked cigars, so he’d bring them for me and champagne for Sara’
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On the second day of his cross-examination during his criminal trial, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu details some of the gifts and luxury vacations he was given by Arnon Milchan, claiming the Hollywood mogul’s generosity came despite the fact that the lawmaker had no intention of returning to politics when he was out of office in 2007.
The cross-examination is focusing on Case 1000, in which Netanyahu is accused of fraud and breach of trust for allegedly accepting luxury gifts worth hundreds of thousands of shekels from Hollywood mogul Arnon Milchan and Australian billionaire James Packer, and doing various favors for Milchan in return.
“He understood that I liked cigars so he would bring them for me. Between 1999 and 2000 he brought me cigars, and champagne for Sara [Netanyahu, the premier’s wife],” Netanyahu tells the court, according to Channel 13 news.
“The first meeting… he saw that I liked cigars and would bring boxes of cigars and when we would meet in Israel, he would bring a box. Usually one, occasionally two boxes. That’s what happened,” he says, according to Haaretz.
Netanyahu says that Milchan was generous and the two would meet at the billionaire’s mansion in Paris.
Netanyahu says that the meetings took place even though Milchan understood that Netanyahu was a “political corpse” in 2007 whose career had ended, Haaretz reports.
“I had no intention of returning to politics. He knew that,” Netanyahu says, according to Channel 13 news.
“We would meet there, several times. At his invitation, with his full hospitality, every trip. Even at these meetings he would bring cigars and champagne. I flew at his expense time and time again. But not when I was in politics, because that is prohibited.”
The cross-examination will likely take some 12 months to complete, given the numerous complications of the legal calendar and the prime minister’s responsibilities. His direct testimony took 36 sessions.
The Times of Israel Community.