Court agrees to cancel PM’s testimony this week after briefing by security chiefs

The Jerusalem District Court on Sunday agreed to cancel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s scheduled days of testimony in his criminal trial for this week, after Netanyahu, backed by the heads of IDF Military Intelligence and Mossad, appeared before the judges in a closed-door hearing to lay out the reasons the hearings must be put off.

The court decided that the two hearings scheduled this week for Netanyahu’s testimony will be canceled, but declined at this stage to cancel next week’s hearings — as Netanyahu also requested — citing a “lack of certainty” regarding “relevant developments.”

The judges stated that they would consider a new request to cancel next week’s hearings should one be submitted later.

Netanyahu’s lawyer Amit Hadad had submitted two requests on Friday to cancel the prime minister’s testimony for the next two weeks due to “diplomatic, national and security issues of the first order” in the wake of the recent war with Iran, which ended with a ceasefire last week.

The judges rejected those requests, saying they had not been presented with a sufficient basis to justify them.

On Sunday, however, Netanyahu went to the court himself along with the top security officials to explain why a delay was necessary.

The judges noted in their decision that IDF Military Intelligence head Maj. Gen. Shlomi Binder and Mossad director David Barnea were both present and gave explanations as to why Netanyahu needed to miss the scheduled court hearings on Monday and Wednesday.

Shortly after the hearing ended, the judges announced the cancelation of this week’s hearings due to “the explanations that were given, which included significant additions and changes compared to the basis presented for the previous decisions.”

The court asked Netanyahu’s defense attorneys to “make every effort” to have another defense witness testify on Wednesday instead of the prime minister, in order to cause as little delay as possible to the trial.

According to the Kan public broadcaster, Barnea and Binder told the court that there is an opportunity to change the face of the Middle East and for Israel to expand its circle of peace, including with Syria. The closed-door hearing lasted 10 minutes, unnamed sources told the broadcaster.

Netanyahu is charged with fraud and breach of trust in the three cases against him, as well bribery in one of those cases. The trial began in 2020 and is expected to last at least into 2027, not including potential appeals.