'I have been waiting 8 years to tell the truth': Netanyahu takes the stand in his corruption trial

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the stand in his corruption trial for the first time on Tuesday.

"I have been waiting for eight years for this moment to tell the truth,” Netanyahu told a Tel Aviv courtroom.

The trial will complicate Netanyahu's obligations as prime minister – he will be required to testify three times a week, as he continues to oversee Israel's multiple ongoing military conflicts in the region.

But he expressed confidence that he could handle it. "I am leading the country through a seven-front war," he said. "I think the two can be done in parallel.”

Outside, protesters surrounded the courtroom, many demanding a deal to release the Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and an end to the war. One protester held up the names of the hostages, while another carried an edited mugshot of the prime minister reading, "wanted for genocide."

More: Israelis ask if world has forgotten their hostages six months after the trauma of Oct. 7

Charged for bribery five years ago

Five years ago, Netanyahu was charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust, making him the country's first sitting prime minister to be indicted.

Netanyahu has pleaded not guilty and vehemently denies the charges. On Thursday, he called the charges "a coup with rabid political investigations that are unacceptable in any democracy."

"The real threat to democracy in Israel is not posed by the public's elected representatives, but by some among the law enforcement authorities who refuse to accept the voters' choice," he said in a statement.

More: Israel hits Syria's chemical weapons, sends troops over the border

In one case, Netanyahu is accused of pushing regulatory favors worth around $500 million to Bezeq Telecom Israel in exchange for positive coverage of him and his wife Sara on a news website run by the company's former chairman. He also struck a deal with the owner of Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth to push regulations that would slow down a rival paper in exchange for good coverage, according to the indictment.

Prosecutors say Netanyahu also illegally accepted more than $200,000 in cigars and champagne from Arnon Milchan, an Israeli movie producer, and James Packer, an Australian business tycoon, and offered to help Packer's business interests.

Some Israelis demand ceasefire deal, return of hostages

Netanyahu faces mounting pressure and criticism from Israelis frustrated with the lack of a ceasefire deal to secure the release of the around 100 remaining hostages in Gaza as the war has raged for more than a year.

Israel launched its first attacks after last Oct. 7, when Hamas fighters breached Gaza's border, killing 1,200 Israelis and taking more than 200 hostage in a surprise attack.

But with war in its second year, Netanyahu and his allies still insist that Israel must root out Hamas' presence in the enclave, even as more than 43,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks and those remaining in the enclave face famine and humanitarian crisis.

The International Criminal Court has also charged Netanyahu and his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, with war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with Israel's conduct in the war. Both men will not be arrested unless of they travel to a member country of the court – Israel and the U.S. are not members.

What about Donald Trump. Was he forced to testify in his indictment?

Israeli law dictates that a judge can compel a prime minister to testify. But U.S. law is more complicated.

Ahead of his felony conviction in a hush money trial earlier this year, President-elect Donald Trump declined to testify – the constitution grants all criminal defendants the right to choose whether they want to testify in their defense or not.

But U.S. courts can compel witnesses and others to testify in someone else's trial by issuing a subpoena. In theory, Trump could be subject to this, too.

Although the Supreme Court has never definitively ruled on the question, the justices ruled in 1974 that executive privilege did not protect then-President Richard Nixon from a subpoena for tapes and documents related to the Watergate scandal.

In 1998, Bill Clinton became the first president to testify in a grand jury investigation led by Ken Starr, leading to his famous denial of a sexual relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. But Clinton was technically not forced into giving testimony – Starr subpoenaed Clinton, but later withdrew it when the then-president agreed to testify voluntarily.

The question arose again in 2020 during Trump's impeachment trial, but it became irrelevant after the Senate voted not to call witnesses in the case.

Contributing: Reuters

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Netanyahu takes the stand for the first time in corruption trial