JERUSALEM -- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's corruption trial resumed Monday, with a key witness painting a picture of an image-obsessed Israeli leader forcing a prominent news site to flatter his family and smear his opponents.
The testimony came as Netanyahu's chances of securing another term in office after last month's parliamentary elections appeared to be dwindling in high-stakes political talks hosted by the country's figurehead president just a few miles away.
In a nationally televised address, Netanyahu accused prosecutors of persecuting him in an attempt to undermine the will of the voters and to drive him out of office.
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"This is what a coup attempt looks like," he said.
In a postelection ritual, President Reuven Rivlin was consulting with the various parties elected to parliament before choosing a candidate to form a new government.
With both Netanyahu and his main rival, Yair Lapid, failing to gain the support of a majority of lawmakers, Rivlin faces a difficult task, and the country risks plunging into an unprecedented fifth-consecutive election campaign in the coming weeks.
Last week, Lapid called on the country's anti-Netanyahu factions to put aside their differences and form a unity government. He said he had even offered Naftali Bennett, leader of a small right-wing party, a power-sharing rotation, with Bennett serving first as prime minister.
"Anyone who saw Netanyahu's reckless performance today understands he can't carry on in his job," Lapid said. "We know how to bridge divides. We don't hate one another."
Rivlin has until midnight Wednesday to choose a prime minister-designate who would be given up to six weeks to form a coalition. If he feels there is no clear choice, he also could send the issue straight to the Knesset, ordering lawmakers to choose a member as prime minister or force another election.
Netanyahu has been charged with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three separate cases. Monday's proceedings, the first in two months, marked the beginning of the evidentiary phase, in which a long line of witnesses are to take the stand against the prime minister.
The session focused on the most serious case against Netanyahu -- in which he is accused of promoting regulations that delivered hundreds of millions of dollars of profits to the Bezeq telecom company in exchange for positive coverage on the firm's popular news site, Walla.
Ilan Yeshua, Walla's former chief editor, described a system in which Bezeq's owners, Shaul and Iris Elovitch, repeatedly pressured him to publish favorable things about Netanyahu and smear the prime minister's rivals.
The explanation he was given by the couple was "That's what the prime minister wanted," he said.
He said the pressure went on "for hours on end" over several years. The Elotviches, who are also defendants in the case, chose photos, headlines, word choice and other content.
Yeshua said they also ordered him to write unfavorable articles about Netanyahu's rivals, giving them pejorative nicknames. Naftali Bennett, a former Netanyahu ally turned rival, was known as "the naughty religious one," and former Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, who is of North African descent, was called "smiley" and "the Arab."
Yeshua said he never spoke directly to Netanyahu, and that requests also came from intermediaries, including former Netanyahu aide Nir Hefez, who has turned state's witness and is also expected to testify against the prime minister.
In another case, Netanyahu is accused of accepting gifts worth hundreds of thousands of dollars from wealthy associates, including Hollywood film mogul Arnon Milchan and Australian billionaire James Packer. In the third case, Netanyahu is accused of trying to orchestrate positive coverage in a major Israeli newspaper in exchange for curbing distribution of a free pro-Netanyahu tabloid. Netanyahu denies all charges.
Information for this article was contributed by Joseph Krauss of The Associated Press.
