Jct, University in Jerusalem, Israel

Jerusalem, Feb 9 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pleaded not guilty at the resumption of his corruption trial in Jerusalem on Monday.Wearing a black mask, Netanyahu appeared in front of a three-judge panel at the Jerusalem District Court to officially deny the allegations against him, the Xinhua news agency reported."I confirm the written answer submitted in my name," Netanyahu said, referring to a document submitted by his lawyers in which they rejected the charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust.He left after about 20 minutes without providing an explanation, while his lawyers continued to argue on his behalf. The Hebrew-language Ha'aretz newspaper reported that the judges approved his departure.His lawyers, Boaz Ben Zur and Amit Hadad, argued that constitutional procedures had been breached. The prosecution rejected the allegation and said the opening of the investigation was approved by Attorney General Avihai Mandelblit.Israel's longest-serving Prime Minister stands to trial over corruption charges in three separate cases. According to his indictment, he accepted luxurious gifts from wealthy friends and offered regulatory benefits to media tycoons in return for favorable media coverage.The 71-year-old leader has repeatedly that the allegations are part of "a witch hunt" orchestrated by the "leftist" media.Netanyahu is the first serving prime minister to stand to trial in Israel.On March 23, Israel will hold its fourth general elections in two years. Netanyahu is handling his trial while leading the struggle to curb the coronavirus spread and the ensuing economic crisis. He is facing weekly demonstrations throughout Israel calling him to resign.( With inputs from IANS )Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor

JctFOLLOW

Jct, Latest News

Tel Aviv, March 2 Israel's natural gas and oil revenues hit a record high in 2020, totalling 1.09 ... ...

Tel Aviv, March 1 Israel has lifted a Covid-19 night curfew, which was imposed over the past three days ... ...

Jerusalem, Feb 26 The number of people vaccinated against the Covid-19 virus in Israel has reached 4,649,709, the ... ...

Israel on Friday agreed to inoculate 100,000 Palestinians who regularly cross into Israel to work, reported The Washington Post citing Mai al-Kaila, Palestinian Health Minister. ...

Jerusalem, Feb 14 Pfizer-BioNTech's Covid-19 vaccine was 93 per cent effective at protecting against the virus, a leading ... ...

Tel Aviv, Feb 14 Israel's Ministry of Finance has announced a new program to support the disabled people ... ...

Jerusalem, Feb 10 Israel's Ministry of Health reported 6,574 new Covid-19 cases on Tuesday, raising the tally of ... ...

Jerusalem, Feb 9 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pleaded not guilty at the resumption of his corruption trial ... ...