Veteran producer Arnon Milchan testified on Sunday in the long-running corruption trial against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, involving three separate charges of breach of trust and fraud.
Milchan gave his evidence via video-link to the Jerusalem District Court from a room in The Old Ship Hotel in the UK seaside resort of Brighton, close to his current home, in the presence of Netanyahu’s wife Sara Netanyahu.
Scores of Israeli demonstrators gathered outside the hotel to protest corruption in Israel as well as Netanyahu’s controversial overhaul of the judiciary.
Milchan told the hearing he had given gifts of champagne, cigars and jewellery to Netanyahu and his wife.
He said the gift-giving began of his own volition but that over time Netanyahu had started making requests and that it had become routine, with the politician using code words to indicate what he wanted such as “pink” for champagne “leaves” for cigars.
Milchan told the hearing that considered Netanyahu as a friend – even calling out “Hello Bibi” as the prime minister walked into the court room in Jerusalem on Sunday.
“I saw him as a close friend, between friends and comrades,” said the producer, who has freely admitted to acting as spy for Israel in the past.
Milchan has not been back to his native Israel since 2016, after he was grilled there by the prosecutors in the early days of corruption case, but he is witness and not a suspect.
Under the case known as “Case 1000”, Netanyahu is accused of having a conflict of interest after he intervened in the interest of Milchan’s business interests in return for lavish gifts from the producer and Australian billionaire James Packer.
The trial against Netanyahu began in Jerusalem in May 2020, with witness testimony from more than 300 witnesses beginning in April 2021.
Other well-known figures on the list of witnesses first announced in 2019 include U.S. casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson, Oracle Corp co-founder Larry Ellison and UK-American billionaire Len Blavatnik.
