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A defiant Benjamin Netanyahu denounced Israel’s media and prosecutors after he finally took the stand in his long-running corruption trial, deriding the proceedings as a dangerous distraction from the country’s wars in the Middle East.
本雅明•內塔尼亞胡(Benjamin Netanyahu)終於在其曠日持久的腐敗案審判中出庭作證，隨後他蔑視地譴責了以色列的媒體和檢察官，斥責訴訟程式是對該國中東戰爭的危險干擾。
The prime minister’s appearance, the first of what could end up being weeks of questioning, took place after repeated legal wrangling by his team designed to prevent him from being called on to testify. Proceedings began in 2020 but were long delayed by Covid, legal manoeuvring and the wars in Gaza and Lebanon.
這位以色列總理此次出庭可能是持續數週的質詢的第一場，先前他的團隊多次進行法律纏鬥以阻止他被傳喚作證。訴訟程式始於2020年，但由於新冠肺炎、法律手段以及加沙和黎巴嫩戰爭而被長期推遲。
Netanyahu’s harshest domestic critics have accused him of extending the conflict against Hamas in Gaza to delay this day of reckoning, while his supporters have demanded that he be unencumbered in order to lead the war effort.
內塔尼亞胡在國內最嚴厲的批評者指責他延長了與哈馬斯在加沙的衝突，以推遲清算的這一天，而他的支持者則要求他不受阻礙地領導戰爭。
The prime minister, who was charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust in three complex, overlapping criminal cases focused on his relationships with wealthy business people, attempted to establish in the courtroom what he has alleged for years: that a left-wing media and prosecutorial cabal was engaged in a “ruthless witch-hunt”.
內塔尼亞胡總理在三起復雜、重疊的刑事案件中被指控犯有賄賂、欺詐和背信罪，這些案件都集中在他與富商的關係上，他試圖在法庭上確立他多年來的指控：左翼媒體和檢方陰謀集團正在進行一場「無情的政治迫害」。
Prosecutors allege that Netanyahu accepted expensive presents such as champagne and cigars from wealthy friends in return for favours, and in other instances, offered regulatory advantages to media outlets to win favourable coverage. He has denied all the charges.
檢察官指控內塔尼亞胡接受富商朋友贈送的香檳和雪茄等昂貴禮物以交換好處，內塔尼亞胡還向媒體提供監管方面的好處以贏得有利的報導。內塔尼亞胡否認了所有指控。
The hours of testimony on Tuesday barely touched on the facts at the heart of the case, however. Instead, Netanyahu’s attorneys led him through a line of questioning in which he presented himself as the harangued leader of an embattled state, who worked 17 hours a day to keep Israelis safe while fighting off lies and libel from journalists.
然而，週二數小時的證詞幾乎沒有觸及案件的核心事實。相反，內塔尼亞胡的律師引導他進行了一系列提問，在這些提問中，內塔尼亞胡將自己描述成一個備受指責的國家領導人，他每天工作17個小時以保證以色列人的安全，還要與記者的謊言和誹謗作鬥爭。
“I took criticism and attacks, insults, libel and lies, in a scope that very few people, and no one in Israel has ever faced,” he said. “There has never been such a biased media in any democracy, possibly in any country on Earth, as there is in Israel.”
他說：「我受到了批評和攻擊、侮辱、誹謗和謊言，其範圍之廣是以色列很少有人面對過的。在任何一個民主國家，可能在地球上的任何一個國家，從來沒有像以色列這樣有偏見的媒體。」
His meandering testimony swung between crucial world events — from the 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement that partitioned the Middle East between western powers to Netanyahu’s 2015 break with then US president Barack Obama over Iran’s nuclear programme — and the mundane.
他的證詞東拉西扯，在重大世界事件和世俗事件之間來回橫跳，從1916年西方列強瓜分中東的《賽克斯-皮科協定》說到2015年內塔尼亞胡與時任美國總統巴拉克•歐巴馬就伊朗核計劃決裂。
The prime minister discussed his work habits, the number of documents he signed a day and the rare cigar he allows himself but, he said, he never has a chance to finish.
這位總理談到了他的工作習慣、每天簽署的檔案數量，以及他偶爾允許自己抽雪茄，但他說，他從來沒有機會抽完。
“Sometimes I sin with a cigar that I can’t even smoke in peace because of the constant interruptions,” he said. “And by the way, I hate champagne.”
他說：「有時我會心懷愧疚地抽根雪茄，但因爲不停地被打斷，我甚至無法安靜地抽完。順便說一句，我討厭香檳。」
The trial has convulsed the nation’s politics, triggering multiple elections and has pitted Israel’s longest-serving premier — who began his first of several terms in 1996 — against a judicial system he has sought to tame through controversial reforms that triggered mass street protests.
這場審判震驚了以色列政壇，引發了多次選舉，並使這位以色列任職時間最長的總理——1996 年開始他的第一個任期——與司法系統針鋒相對，他試圖透過引發大規模街頭抗議的爭議性改革來馴服該系統。
Netanyahu, who has become increasingly reliant on the support of far-right political parties to stay in power, suffered a dramatic drop in popularity over his failure to prevent the October 7 2023 surprise raid by Hamas, in which the Palestinian militant group killed 1,200 people.
內塔尼亞胡越來越依賴極右翼政黨的支援來繼續執政，2023年10月7日，哈馬斯發動突然襲擊，造成1200人死亡，內塔尼亞胡因未能阻止襲擊而聲望急劇下降。
Israel’s subsequent offensive in Gaza has killed more than 44,000 people, according to Palestinian health officials, and Netanyahu’s domestic approval ratings have improved as the country landed devastating military blows against Hamas, Hizbollah in Lebanon, and Iran.
據巴勒斯坦衛生官員稱，以色列隨後在加沙發動的攻勢已造成4.4萬多人死亡，而隨著以色列對哈馬斯、黎巴嫩真主黨和伊朗發動毀滅性軍事打擊，內塔尼亞胡的國內支援率也有所提高。
The testimony is set to turn more confrontational in the coming days when prosecutors are finally able to question him about the evidence they have collected in multiyear probes.
未來幾天，當檢察官終於可以就多年調查收集到的證據向內塔尼亞胡提問時，內塔尼亞胡的證詞將變得更具對抗性。
Those include allegations that Netanyahu and his wife Sara were plied with hundreds of thousands worth of expensive gifts, and that Netanyahu offered a trade to a newspaper publisher in which he would receive favourable coverage in exchange for helping dent a rival newspaper’s circulation.
這些證據包括內塔尼亞胡及其妻子薩拉被贈送價值數十萬美元的昂貴禮物，以及內塔尼亞胡向一家報紙出版商提出交易：透過幫助削弱競爭對手報紙的發行量，以獲得對他有利的報導。
But on the first day of the trial that could decide not just his political future, but also his personal freedom, Netanyahu unveiled a legal strategy that mirrors his political persona: that of a man who has sacrificed much for the nation, now the subject of a witch hunt that places Israel itself at risk.
然而，內塔尼亞胡在審判——該審判不僅可能決定他的政治未來，還可能決定他的個人自由——的第一天就公佈了他的法律策略，這反映了他的政治形象：一個爲國家做出巨大犧牲的人，現在卻成爲一場政治迫害的對象，使以色列自身面臨危險。
During his short stints out of office, Netanyahu said: “I enjoyed trips, meals, even made a good living.” But then, he told the court, he was called back to serve Israel. “I went back to the coal mines.”
內塔尼亞胡說，在他短暫的卸任期間：「我享受旅行，享受美食，甚至過上了好日子。」但隨後，他告訴法庭，他被召回爲以色列服務。「我又回來做苦力了。」