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00:00We're going to stay in Israel now because the other big news of the day there is that
00:05Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the witness stand for the first time
00:09in his long-running corruption trial.
00:11He's the first ever Israeli leader to be charged with a crime, or the first sitting Israeli
00:17leader to be charged with a crime.
00:19The Israeli leader has promised to finally on Tuesday to knock down the allegations,
00:23calling the charges against him absurd while also slamming the legal system and the media.
00:28Let's get more on this and speak to France 24's correspondent, Noga Tanepolsky, who
00:32joins us from Jerusalem.
00:35So Noga, Netanyahu began his witness testimony today.
00:39Tell us what today's trial was like.
00:46Adrenaline.
00:47It definitely had that feeling of history in the making.
00:50It's a very unusual sight to be crammed into a small bunker-like courtroom and have the
00:57head of government answering questions in his own criminal trial.
01:02That said, Netanyahu appears to be mounting much more of a political defense than a legal
01:09defense.
01:10He almost repeated to the judges his speech from last night, from a press conference last
01:16night.
01:18As you said, Yinka, he was slamming the Israeli media as being a political party that opposes
01:24him.
01:26He slammed the judiciary.
01:27And in fact, he mocked the proceedings.
01:29He didn't just return time after time to that word absurd, but he seemed to acknowledge
01:36some of the allegations against him.
01:40Instead of saying, no, I did not do as you alleged, he said, of course I did.
01:45That's how any prime minister, any head of government would behave, thus making a mockery
01:50of the laws, you know, ethical journalism laws themselves and the entire judicial proceedings.
01:57So Israeli legal analysts today seem quite split, I would say, about the potential effectiveness
02:05of this method.
02:08The question is, will the judges fall under his spell, like for many years much of the
02:14Israeli public did, and consider his claim that the laws such as they are or the claims
02:20simply are not relevant to him?
02:24Or could this approach boomerang against him when the judges say, well, you may think the
02:30laws don't apply to you, but here we are to tell you they do?
02:34And of course, Noga Netanyahu is the first sitting Israeli leader to be charged with
02:40a crime.
02:41It's coming at a time where he has a lot on his plate with the situation in the Middle East.
02:46Is he going to be able to govern effectively with all that he's got going on?
02:52That's the huge question.
02:54That's the elephant in the room here.
02:56Netanyahu was only allowed to run for prime minister as an indicted criminal, really by
03:03the skin of his teeth.
03:05There's a loophole in Israeli law.
03:08When the lawmakers wrote in the law books that no minister can remain in post if he
03:15or she is indicted, they forgot to specify that this also counts for the prime minister.
03:20Netanyahu used this loophole to run for office.
03:23Still, as an indicted criminal, he was forced to sign a non-conflict of interest agreement.
03:30Part of that, he acknowledged that he would have to show up and testify in trial, and
03:35he claimed he could do so perfectly well while running the country.
03:40And today, we already began to see the first cracks in this method.
03:44He received several times during the proceedings little notes or a top-secret envelope.
03:49He requested pauses, and many people here think that he's laying the groundwork even
03:55fairly quickly to once again ask the court to simply delay the entire trial again.
04:02One of the reasons this trial has gone on now for a full five years before he started
04:07testifying is because Netanyahu's methods more or less succeeded, and the big question
04:12now is will the judges accept this claim again?
04:16Well, we'll have to see how it all plays out.
04:19Noga, thanks so much for bringing us up to speed there.
04:21That's Noga Tanepolsky, France 24's correspondent in Jerusalem, there for us.