Netanyahu pleads not guilty to graft as trial resumes

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied corruption charges against him in a brief court appearance yesterday, as his graft trial resumed weeks before a fourth national election inside two years.

Netanyahu, the first Israeli premier to be indicted in office, was formally charged last year over allegations that he accepted improper gifts and sought to trade regulatory favour with media moguls in exchange for positive coverage.

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He had been compelled to appear to deliver an in-person response to the charges, after last month formally submitting his innocent plea in writing.

"I confirm the written answer submitted in my name," Israel's longest-serving premier said, after Jerusalem court judge Rivka Feldman Friedman read out the charges against him.

Netanyahu was referring to a January 18 court filing from his defence team which said "the prime minister denies all charges" in each of the three separate cases against him.

The combative 71-year-old premier, who has previously blasted the charges as "fabricated and ludicrous", spent just 20 minutes inside the courtroom yesterday, entering and exiting amid a heavy security deployment and dozens of protesters.

The hearing continued in his absence for several hours, with Netanyahu's lawyers Boaz Ben Zur and Amit Hadad accusing Israel's Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit -- a Netanyahu appointee -- of mishandling the case.

They argued that elements of the investigation into the premier were opened without required authorisations.