The Occupied Jerusalem District Zionist Court on Friday twice rejected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s requests for a two-week hiatus in his graft trial after the “State” Attorney’s Office said it opposed the move.
In a statement, Justice Rivka Friedman-Feldman said an initial request, submitted by Netanyahu’s defense attorney Amit Hadad, “does not present a detailed basis or reason that might justify canceling evidentiary hearings.”
Hours after the rejection, the premier submitted a second request, but this time, along with a copy of his schedule for the next week as evidence for needing the hearings to be postponed.
The second request was also rejected later Friday, with the court ruling that “in the schedule presented to the court, there is no exceptional information, details or issues that would justify cancelling the sessions.”
The court did grant one concession, allowing the Monday session to start late at 11:30 a.m.
Hadad had argued Thursday that the premier required the two-week break to devote his time to “diplomatic, national and security issues of the first order,” in the wake of the recent war with Iran, which ended with a ceasefire earlier this week.
His motion came as reports abounded that “Israel” and the US were working on plans for a comprehensive deal to also end the war in Gaza as well as reach normalization agreements with further Arab countries, though there was no official confirmation of such developments.
In response to the request, the “State” Attorney’s Office had said that “The broad reasons detailed in the request cannot justify canceling two weeks of hearings, especially in the run-up to the [summer] recess, after the court already accepted previous requests from the defendant and slowed down the pace of the defendant’s questioning so that his testimony is heard only twice a week. The prosecutor opposes the request.”
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich fumed at the court and prosecutors for not agreeing to the request, stating that it showed “incredible detachment, to insist on being small people, lacking any vision, strategy or understanding of reality, and lacking discretion and minimal understanding of national priorities and interests.”
“National Security” Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said in a statement that the decision was “disconnected” and reiterated US President Donald Trump’s call on Wednesday to halt the trial entirely.
Netanyahu is on trial in three corruption cases. He faces charges of fraud and breach of trust in Case 1000 and Case 2000, and charges of bribery, as well as fraud and breach of trust in Case 4000.
In Case 1000, he is charged with fraud and breach of trust surrounding allegations that he and his wife Sara received expensive gifts illicitly from Hollywood media mogul Arnon Milchan worth some NIS 700,000 and that Netanyahu violated conflict of interest laws when he provided Milchan with assistance in renewing his long-term US residency visa and sought to help him with tax issues.
In Case 2000, the prime minister is accused of fraud and breach of trust over his alleged attempt to reach a quid pro quo agreement with the publisher of the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, Arnon (Noni) Mozes, whereby Yedioth would give the prime minister more positive media coverage in exchange for legislation weakening its key rival, the Israel Hayom free sheet.
Case 4000, also known as the Bezeq-Walla case, is the most serious case the prime minister faces, in which he is accused of authorizing regulatory decisions that financially benefited Bezeq telecommunications giant shareholder Shaul Elovitch by hundreds of millions of shekels. In return, Netanyahu received favorable media coverage from the Walla news site, which Elovitch also owned.
Source: Israeli media
