Netanyahu Calls For Chance To Debate His Accusers On Live TV
Image by getty images
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants a chance to take on his accusers on live television.
Speaking Monday night, the prime minister said that during investigations into the corruption cases against him he “demanded a face-to-face confrontation with states’ witnesses.” He said he was denied several times.
“Today I repeat that demand, and as far as I am concerned it should be on live television,” Netanyahu said.
His statement was carried live on Israel’s major news programs and streamed on his Facebook page, but no reporters were invited.
Netanyahu also said that police have ignored potential witnesses that could have testified on his behalf.
“There is nonstop pressure on the attorney general to indict me,” he said. “Maybe if I proposed a new disengagement or divided Jerusalem or abandoned our security they would leave me alone, but I will never do that.”
Netanyahu scoffed at the idea that he bribed Yediot Acharonot publisher Arnon Mozes to get good coverage, saying “Me? The person most hated by the media? It’s absurd.”
Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit is expected to make a decision by February on whether or not to indict Netanyahu in three corruption cases. The police have recommended that the prime minister be charged in each case.
Netanyahu has said he would not step down if called to a pre-indictment hearing in order to defend himself against the charges.
Israel is holding national elections on April 9, and Netanyahu is predicted to win another term.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
