Court grants Netanyahu 8-day delay to start of his testimony in corruption trial

The Jerusalem District Court grants Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu an eight-day postponement to the start of his testimony in his ongoing criminal trial, after his defense team said it did not have enough time to prepare him to testify.

Netanyahu had been scheduled to begin testifying in court  this coming Monday, but will now begin his testimony on December 10 instead.

The prime minister’s defense attorneys had said they would not be able to prepare for his testimony due to his intense schedule resulting from the war, and requested a 15-day delay.

The court says in its decision that the circumstances since it rejected a more lengthy delay earlier this month had not changed, but that it decided “not without doubts” to agree to the request, in part owing to the defense team’s pledge not to request any further delays.

The prime minister’s defense team had initially sought to push off his testimony to the middle of March, citing time pressure on Netanyahu, but the court ruled earlier this month that such a long delay could not be justified.