Israel's Netanyahu attends corruption hearing

Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a rare appearance at his corruption trial today but an expected courtroom encounter with an ex-aide who has turned state’s witness never happened as judges postponed his testimony, Reuters reports.

Netanyahu, who served as prime minister for 12 consecutive years but lost power in June and is now the opposition leader, has pleaded not guilty to charges of bribery, breach of trust and fraud in cases that centre on alleged regulatory favours he awarded to media tycoons in return for positive press coverage and illicit receipt of gifts, including cigars and champagne.

He is not required to attend all the hearings in his trial, which began last year, and had not been seen in the court since April. The 72-year-old made no comment to reporters as he arrived at the Jerusalem courthouse in a motorcade.

Netanyahu’s former spokesman and close adviser Nir Hefetz, one of a small group of ex-aides to turn state’s witness, had been due to begin what is likely to be weeks or even months of testimony.

But the three-judge court agreed to a defence motion requesting time to study new evidence provided by another witness, so it postponed Hefetz’s testimony until 22 November.

Netanyahu is entangled in four political scandals: Case 1000 which involves allegations that the PM and his wife accepted illegal gifts from businessmen; Case 2000 which accuses Netanyahu of attempting to buy favourable newspaper coverage; Case 3000, also known as the “submarine scandal” would have seen Israel purchase naval vessels and submarines from a German firm with millions of shekels allegedly “skimmed” off the top of the deals for personal profit; and Case 4000, in which a close associate of Netanyahu is suspected of providing confidential information to Israel’s largest telecoms company

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