Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defiantly vowed to beat the corruption charges against him as he took the witness stand for the first time at his long-running trial on Tuesday.
Netanyahu, 75, called allegations that he abused his position to receive tens of thousands of dollars' worth of champagne and cigars in exchange for official favors "simply ridiculous," according to the Times of Israel.
"I hate champagne, I can't drink it," he testified.
Netanyahu also said that "sometimes I sit with a cigar, and I can't smoke it all at once because I smoke them between meetings."
The leader of the right-wing Likud party is the first sitting Israeli prime minister to face criminal prosecution and he faces charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, according to Reuters.
His unprecedented testimony came against the backdrop of Israel's ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza and potential new threats posed by turmoil in Syria and elsewhere in the Mideast.
"I have been waiting for eight years for this moment to tell the truth," he told the three-judge panel that will decide his fate. "I am leading the country through a seven-front war. And I think the two can be done in parallel."
Netanyahu is accused of receiving illegal gifts from millionaire friends and allegedly seeking regulatory favors for media moguls in exchange for favorable coverage.
"Had I wanted good coverage, all I would have had to have done would be to signal toward a two-state solution," he testified. "Had I moved two steps to the left I would have been hailed."
Netanyahu chose to deliver his testimony while standing and he appeared at ease while speaking freely to the judges inside a fortified, underground courtroom in Tel Aviv, according to the Associated Press.
Outside, supporters and opponents of the prime minster staged competing demonstrations and chanted slogans, with an anti-Netanyahu banner saying, "Crime Minister."
Netanyahu is scheduled to continue testifying for six hours a day, three days a week for several weeks.
His trial began in 2020 and a verdict isn't expected until at least 2026, AP said.
