Netanyahu cross-examined in day 36 of criminal corruption trial

Netanyahu explained his political absence between 1999 and 2002 was because he - and everyone else, he noted on the witness stand - assumed that his political career was done for, that he wouldn’t be able to come back. 

“When the time came and I was asked to come back, I initially didn’t want it,” he said. “I thought political life was behind me, and I thought I wanted to keep it behind me,” he explained. 

Tadmor presented his thesis: The attempted amendment made to Basic Law: The Government, which would have allowed for the election of a prime minister who had already been prime minister to run again, was done in the context of returning Netanyahu to power. The law, dubbed the “Netanyahu Law,” passed initial readings in the Knesset on December 18, 2000, in a 63-45 vote. 

In 2000, the Barak government fell, and special elections were called - elections for premiership and not for the Knesset. At the time, Netanyahu wasn't an MK and so couldn't run, hence the attempted tweak to the basic law to accommodate his situation. 

Ariel Sharon won those elections, so the proposed amendment fell through. 

Tadmor explained that the law could have only applied to him, as he was the only relevant public figure it would have related to at the time. Consequently, the question is on the relevance of the friendship with Milchan at the time. 

In the elections that took place on 17 May 1999, Netanyahu lost and was in office until July 7. Ehud Barak was the next prime minister.

Tadmor presented quotations from Netanyahu’s own witness testimony: “I met Milchan very close to the loss of the elections… I believe it was mere days after.”

Tadmor raised another dinner meeting, this one included Milchan’s mother and took place in 1999. Netanyahu said he couldn’t remember enough to differentiate which dinner, if any, was more influential to his friendship and connection with Milchan. 

According to evidence referenced by Tadmor, Milchan arrived in Israel on September 8, 1996, about two months after the fateful meeting. Tadmor proposed that Milchan tried to get in touch with Netanyahu, but to no avail. Netanyahu pointed out that, per the evidence presented, Milchan entered and left Ben-Gurion Airport several times, so there is no basis to establish the early September entry as significant. 

Tadmor referenced Milchan’s witness testimony, where he said he tried calling the Prime Minister’s Office several times, and was “insulted” when he received no response. 

Netanyahu insisted on Tuesday that he did not know about this in real time. 

The spark of friendship between Milchan and Netanyahu was first created when Netanyahu wasn’t working in public service, Tadmor argued to the judges.

Milchan testified in his interrogation that the three of them - himself, Neatnyahu, and Sara, had dinner. At a certain point, Milchan and Netanyahu were left alone. Tadmor suggested that the dinner was so effective that Netanyahu invited Milchan to visit Israel. 

Netanyahu said he remembered none of the specifics. 

“Not only do I not remember, but Milchan couldn’t have helped me with any budgetary issues,” said the prime minister, responding to Tadmor’s specific question about the budget.

The prosecution revealed that Netanyahu said he “didn’t remember” a total of 1,788 times in the interrogations. 

Tadmor progressed to ask about the initial meetings between Netanyahu and Milchan. Netanyahu insisted that he didn’t remember exactly which film premiere it was that he went to with Sara, his wife.

Tadmor pulled quotes from Milchan’s testimony, where he said he “ran all around New York looking for a massive Bugs Bunny doll.”

Netanyahu said, “I remember there being talk about a Bugs Bunny doll, I don’t remember anything more specific than that.” 

“I have no idea how the doll came to be by us,” he added.

He insisted that he didn’t have consistent memory of everything related to the trial, partially due to the volume of information presented in these cases, and also because new knowledge was presented to him during preparations. 

Netanyahu insisted, per Tadmor’s question, that whenever he said he “didn’t remember,” he truly didn’t remember, and was not trying to get out of a question or using the response to avoid telling the truth. 

Tadmor stood on the differences between the prime minister's memory and his preparation, including papers that he brought into the courtroom. Netanyahu insisted that he wouldn’t get into the contents of any such folders in public. 

Tadmor referenced the second interrogation, when police officers hung around the room itself afterwards to look for cigars, champagne, and jewelry. Netanyahu said that he understood from the protocols presented to him on Tuesday that his lawyers must have been concerned with an unlawful search, but that he didn’t remember exactly what they had asked to document. 

“Everyone has memory lapses from time to time, even me,” Netanyahu said. 

Protesters gathered at the Tel Aviv district court, on the day of the cross-examination in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ongoing trial on Tuesday.

Demonstrators in orange overalls held signs quoting from his testimony: 'I don't remember'. The banner reads: 'You don't remember? You're not fit for office. [declare] Incapacity NOW!'

Demonstrators carry signs, among them, one reads: 'How does killing tens of thousands of Gazans contribute to security?'

Netanyahu insisted that he went the extra mile to clear out his schedule for the initial police interrogations. 

Tadmor cited a transcript from a January 2, 2017 interrogation - the first one - where Netanyahu said, in English, “[This] can’t be open-ended forever.”

“First of all, clearly I was mistaken, this has clearly gone on forever,” said Netanyahu on Tuesday. “Even the interrogators understood that it can’t go on forever.” 

Tadmor stood on those differences: Either he prepared as much as he could and cleared out his schedule, or he was so busy with his other dealings that he couldn’t have prepared properly. 

Tadmor referenced questioning by lead defense attorney Amit Hadad, dated the 9th of April this year, when Netanyahu said that he knew it was coming. 

Netanyahu insisted that his lawyers had compiled a list of 10-12 businessmen, not him. “It is a joke to suggest that I had anything to do with coverage from a hostile news outlet,” he said, in a not-so-veiled reference to Case 4000. 

The questioning surrounded the original summoning for questioning. Prosecution attorney Yonatan Tadmor presented transcripts showing that the police would update the prime minister with the final date - which was January 5, 2017.

He said on Tuesday, “It was incredulous. I couldn’t believe I needed to be busy with this while also being prime minister,” said Netanyahu. 

The question was whether police coordinated the interrogation with Netanyahu. “Yes, they did, this is what the routine is, and there is no other way,” he said.