Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s request to shorten the number of corruption trial testimony hearings each week stands in contradiction with his demands for more exhaustive sessions, the prosecution argued on Sunday, calling for the Jerusalem District Court to reject the petition.
Netanyahu’s defense team proposed on Thursday to schedule the testimonies on Mondays and Wednesdays. The prosecution noted yesterday that the defense concurrently sought to testify at least at another 33 hearings.
“This is a testimony of unparalleled scope, since to the best of the prosecutor’s investigation, there has been no case in the entire history of Israeli law in which a defendant testified in the primary testimony over such a large number of sessions,” the prosecution said.
It said that the testimony was already unusually long, with only 11 hearings since December 10, and if Netanyahu’s request was granted, the process could take another eight weeks – if there weren’t any other hearing cancellations.
In the best-case scenario, a reconfigured testimony schedule would mean that Netanyahu’s testimony would end in May.
“On the one hand, he [Netanyahu] seeks to testify to an exceptional length of testimony; and on the other hand, he seeks to ensure that the hearing will not be conducted efficiently but will last many months,” said the prosecution.
The defense’s proposal – that in between the prime minister’s testimonies other witnesses be heard – would contaminate Netanyahu’s testimony and disrupt its continuity, argued the prosecution.
The complex political situation
In a closed hearing on Wednesday, the defense had made the request in light of the demands of Netanyahu’s leadership position during wartime and a complex political situation. However, the prosecution said on Sunday that Netanyahu had repeatedly said that he would be able to continue as prime minister and defendant.
Netanyahu had previously requested that the court hold two hearings a week in December but had been denied by the judges. The court had then determined that there was no compelling reason to shorten the weekly schedule, though in practice there has been no week with three Netanyahu hearings.
“The things that were true in December 2024 are also true in February 2025,” said the prosecution.
The Netanyahu team had also requested on Thursday that the Monday hearing be canceled, but the court ruled on Sunday that the session would continue as planned. A separate ruling would be issued on the proposal for a shortened weekly schedule.