Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lashed out again on Thursday over the ongoing corruption investigations implicating him, accusing law enforcement officials of trying to unseat him by means of criminal investigations and by enlisting state's witnesses to testify against him.
Speaking with reporters in New York at the end of his weeklong state visit to the U.S., Netanyahu said he was "constantly under attack, every hour, every minute."
He said his political rivals were pretending to combat corruption as a ploy to further their own political agendas. He vowed to remain strong and not to buckle under the pressure.
"Even a prime minister has the right to stand up for justice. I will not be silenced. I will tell the truth, even if it is an inconvenient truth for some," he said.
Earlier this week, Netanyahu's former chief of staff Nir Hefetz signed a state's witness agreement under which he will testify against Netanyahu in the investigation known as Case 4,000.
Case 4,000 centers on potentially illicit dealings and conflicts of interest involving Israeli telecom corporation Bezeq and the Bezeq-owned Walla news website. The police allege that Bezeq controlling shareholder Shaul Elovitch ensured positive coverage of the Netanyahu family by Walla, in exchange for the prime minister promoting government regulations worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the company.
Hefetz, who has been granted full immunity in exchange for his testimony, is the second state's witness in the case. Former Communications Ministry Director General Shlomo Filber, considered a key associate of the prime minister, turned state's witness last month in exchange for partial immunity.
Netanyahu has denied any wrongdoing in Case 4,000.
Hefetz is also expected to provide information on two other corruption investigations involving the prime minister: Case 1,000, which centers on gifts Netanyahu allegedly received from wealthy businessmen, and Case 2,000, which focuses on an illicit deal Netanyahu allegedly tried to strike with Yedioth Ahronoth publisher Arnon Mozes to ensure positive newspaper coverage.
Another former Netanyahu chief of staff, Ari Harow, has signed on as a state's witness in those cases.
Referring to recent polls showing that the corruption allegations have not diminished popular support for him or his Likud party, Netanyahu said the public is still in his corner.
"Listen to what the Israeli people are saying," Netanyahu said. "Throngs of Israelis, not everyone, but a vast majority, have been showing solidarity with me and my wife; they want justice."
On Wednesday, Netanyahu criticized the Israel Police for exerting pressure on Hefetz and others to turn against him and become state's witnesses, writing on Facebook that this is nothing but a ploy to unseat him at any cost.
"I usually avoid commenting on what people call 'splashing headlines,' but something I read in one of the papers made me break this habit," Netanyahu wrote.
"I read about a person who was taken in for questioning. He was subjected to intense pressure by investigators, who kept telling him, 'You have to lie, be a state's witness,' but he refused. It is hard to fathom that in Israel, in our democracy in 2018, such things exist."
"So I want to say something about this state's witness industry in our country. You take people who are accused of some crime, they are detained, and the police try to scare the hell out of them. They are told, 'Your life is over, your families' lives are over, we are going to take away almost everything, including your liberty. But if you want to save your skin, then you have only one way out: Sling some mud at Netanyahu. Even just preposterous lies, it doesn't matter; what matters is that you besmirch Netanyahu.'"
