Netanyahu Accuses Prosecutors of Misleading Him During Retrial Testimony

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in court on Monday that prosecutors in his case misled him and set a trap for him during cross-examination, leading him to give contradictory answers. The retrial phase of his trial began at the Tel Aviv District Court, with his lawyer, Amit Hadad, now asking him clarification questions.

Netanyahu said the prosecution presented him with a false picture and caused him to answer inconsistently. “They set a trap for me, and I fell into it,” he told the court, adding, “They are misleading me here and causing me to give 2 answers to the court.” He said this was “the first time” he was admitting that his testimony contained contradictions.

He pointed to two examples. First, he said prosecutors referred to a meeting with Yedioth Ahronoth publisher Noni Moses that never took place, and that merely raising it led him to acknowledge a meeting that did not exist. Second, he said he was shown as if the weekend edition of Israel Hayom had been printed in only a limited number of copies, while in fact, he said, 85,000 copies were printed. Hadad said the edition was shown as “printed in 100,000 copies.”

Prosecutor Gildin objected, saying, “No misleading information was presented.” Netanyahu responded that “they simply lied here brazenly.” The hearing took place Monday morning in a Tel Aviv courtroom as the re-examination stage got underway.