The criminal trial of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu begins, culminating yers of police investigations and judicial probes.
As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial finally began Sunday, two images from the courtroom steps stood out.
Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister and the first to be indicted, was charged last November with fraud, bribery and breach of trust in three separate cases in which he was alleged to have attempted to influence or control the media.Israeli right-wing activists hold flags and signs in support of Prime Minister Netanyahu outside the Jerusalem court on Sunday.
“Bibi, King of Israel” and “Bibi, you’ll never walk alone,” they shouted, referring to him by his nickname.The start of the trial culminated four years of police investigations, judicial probes, shocking news leaks and what critics termed an unprecedented assault against state institutions by the man who had led the nation for almost a dozen years.
Shaul Elovitch, controlling shareholder of Bezeq, the Israeli telecoms giant, and his wife, Iris, are alleged to have received regulatory favors benefiting their company from Netanyahu, again, in exchange for positive media coverage on the Walla news portal, owned by Bezeq. In his public remarks outside the courthouse, Netanyahu linked his signature policy promise of West Bank annexation to his ongoing legal troubles.
European nations, the Arab world and many international organizations have decried any unilateral Israeli move toward annexation as a grave breach of international law. The European Union has threatened to sanction Israel as Netanyahu seeks to impose Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank, which the Palestinian Authority views as the heart of a future Palestinian state.
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