Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the stand on the fourth day of testimony in his corruption trials Wednesday, saying the accusations against him are “idiotic.”
Netanyahu, the first sitting Israeli leader to take the stand as a criminal defendant, is on trial on charges of fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three separate cases.
He was supposed to testify on Tuesday, but it was canceled after he requested a postponement due to “security reasons.”
Netanyahu toured the summit of Mount Hermon, part of the Syrian buffer zone that Israeli forces seized after President Bashar Assad was ousted by the opposition last week. It appeared to be the first time an Israeli leader had set foot that far into Syria.
The testimony, set to take place six hours a day, three days a week for several weeks, will take up a significant chunk of Netanyahu’s working hours, prompting critics to ask if he can capably manage a country embroiled in a war on one front, containing the fallout from a second, and keeping tabs on other potential regional threats, including from Iran.
