The hearings in the criminal trial proceedings of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are scheduled to return on Monday, the first in the court’s calendar year.
Due to internal work strife between the Administration of the Courts and the Histadrut labor federation, partial strike actions – disruptive measures short of a full strike – initiated on Sunday and are set to continue today.
The partial strike follows intensive ongoing negotiations, which the Histadrut said were focused on improving the working conditions and salaries of employees of the Administration. The labor federation called for the Administration to return to the negotiation table.
One of the actions affected by the partial strike is the recording to protocol – entering what is said into the court record – of closed-door sessions. On Sunday morning, the prosecution requested that four hours out of the scheduled Monday hearing take place behind closed doors.
The court later announced that, due to the strikes, there would be no one available to record the protocol of a closed-door hearing. This is different from a public hearing, where the sessions are recorded and transcribed.
The court instructed the prosecution to be prepared for the chance that a closed-door hearing wouldn’t be possible – and to be ready to continue Netanyahu’s questioning on the public witness stand.
On trial for three seperate cases
The prime minister is on trial in three separate cases – 1000, 2000, and 4000. He was indicted in 2020 and has pleaded not guilty to all three.
The cross-examination section of the questioning began in June, before the courts broke for summer recess between July 21 and September 5.
The last hearing took place on July 16, with the questioning focused on Case 1000, in which Netanyahu is on trial for a conflict of interest relating to billionaire Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan, who was his close friend and confidant while he served as communications minister, around 2013 to 2015.
Allegedly, the prime minister received thousands of dollars’ worth of champagne and cigars from Milchan and from Australian billionaire James Packer, who was a friend to both. Netanyahu, allegedly, pushed for legislative and regulatory changes that would’ve been beneficial to Milchan during this time. The prime minister is charged with fraud and breach of trust.
In the last hearing before the recess, the subject matter of the questioning concerned pushes by Netanyahu to secure a US visa for Milchan after his had been canceled. Due to security concerns with information surrounding this issue going on the public record, a representative from the Defense Ministry asked that the hearing be switched to a closed-door setting.
This was never confirmed publicly by Israel, but allegedly, Milchan helped secure technology and materials for its rumored nuclear program.
The following hearing scheduled in July was canceled when Netanyahu felt ill.
In August, the court announced that, starting in November, there would be four weekly hearings in Netanyahu’s trial, up from three.
The prime minister is scheduled to testify three days of the week, while on the fourth, the court will hear testimonies from other witnesses presented by the defense. The judges said at the time that the decision was made “due to the need to move the case along.” The defense then requested that today, after the testimony is due to wrap up, a hearing be held on the four-day decision.
Netanyahu’s team requested that the court cancel the decision as it would disproportionately overwhelm the team, such that it would have a hard time tending to other cases. This hearing is set to be public.
Monday’s hearing is due to begin at 12 p.m. and will last until 6 p.m., pursuant to a court decision from August.