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Netanyahu, who served as prime minister for 12 years until June,
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 receipt of gifts, including cigars and champagne.
Netanyahu, now opposition leader, smiled under his black face
mask as he walked into the Jerusalem District courtroom to hear
the testimony of his former spokesman and close adviser Nir
Hefetz, one of a small group of ex-aides to turn state's witness
against the country's first premier to be criminally charged
while still in office.
"Netanyahu spends at least as much as his time on media as he
spends on security matters, including on matters an outsider
would consider nonsense," Hefetz told the court.
Netanyahu, 72, is not required to attend the trial hearings and
he has made few court appearances. He made no comment to
reporters as slogans shouted outside in the street by a cluster
of his supporters wafted into the courtroom who faced off with a
small group of anti-Netanyahu protesters.
Netanyahu's trial has been a polarising issue for Israelis. His
loyal supporters bemoan it as a left-wing witch-hunt that
targeted a popular right-wing leader, while his staunch critics
hail it as the triumph of law over grave government corruption
that had plunged Israel into two years of political turmoil.
After four inconclusive elections, Netanyahu's former right-wing
ally Naftali Bennett in June unseated Israel's longest- serving
leader by forming a patchwork coalition government of rightist,
centrist, left-wing and Muslim Arab parties.
(Reporting by Maayan Lubell, editing by Ed Osmond)
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