The testimony hearings in the criminal trial of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will extend to four days a week, up from three, starting November 2, Jerusalem District Court judges Rivka Friedman-Feldman, Moshe Bar-Am, and Oded Shaham announced on Tuesday.
Netanyahu will testify three days of the week, while on the fourth, the court will hear testimonies from other witnesses brought forward by the defense. The judges said the decision was made “due to the need to move the case along.”
Netanyahu is on trial in three cases, on charges of fraud, bribery, and breach of trust. He has pleaded not guilty to all three, in the storm of a case that began in 2020.
The hearings paused when the courts went on summer recess on July 21 – they are scheduled to return on September 5. The trial is due to resume in September, with the expanded court appearances kicking in about a month later, after the High Holy Days.
Simultaneously, the judges requested that authorities examine the possibility of moving the hearings from the Tel Aviv District Court to the Beit Shemesh District Court. The judges had been asked to move the hearings to Tel Aviv when Netanyahu began testifying, due to security concerns.
So far, Netanyahu has testified six times in the cross-examination section of the trial. The direct examination took 35 sessions to complete.
Corruption trial testimonies cut short by Syria, Iran conflicts
The last hearing took place on July 16, and it was cut short on Netanyahu’s request, due to the clashes in Syria. The previous hearing, which took place two days prior, was the first in around a month, due to the Iran attacks and the premier’s diplomatic visit to the United States.
Before the court’s weeks-long break, the last hearing took place on June 11. This one was cut short due to the prime minister not feeling well. Israel’s “Rising Lion” operation against Iran began two days later.