Court rejects ministers’ request to delay Netanyahu’s court testimony

The Jerusalem District Court rejects today’s request by members of the Security Cabinet to delay the testimony of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his criminal trial, a testimony set to start tomorrow.

The ministers addressed their request to Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and Director of the Courts Administration Judge Tzachi Uziel, asserting that the current security situation following the fall of the Assad regime in Syria requires Netanyahu as prime minister to be fully focused on his leadership duties and that requiring him to spend many hours of his day in court would cause severe damage to Israel’s security.

The court responds that scheduling matters are conducted only with the parties to a case — the prosecution and the defendants — and that it sees no reason to change that arrangement in Netanyahu’s case.

There will be no further delay in the court schedule for Netanyahu’s testimony, the court rules.

The court has already rejected a request by Netanyahu for a lengthy delay in the start of his testimony and partially accepted a request for a 15-day delay in late November.

Netanyahu is scheduled to begin his testimony tomorrow at 10 a.m. in an underground room in the Tel Aviv District Court, and will continue his testimony on Wednesday afternoon. Further testimony will take place three times a week for the following two weeks at least.