Court rejects Netanyahu’s request for two-week break from graft trial testimony

The Jerusalem District Court rejects Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s request for a two-week hiatus in his graft trial after the State Attorney’s Office said it opposed the move.

In a statement, Justice Rivka Friedman-Feldman says the request, submitted by Netanyahu’s defense attorney Amit Hadad, “does not present a detailed basis or reason that might justify canceling evidentiary hearings.”

Hadad had said that the premier required the two-week break to devote his time to “diplomatic, national and security issues of the first order,” in the wake of the recent war with Iran, which ended on Tuesday.

Reports abounded yesterday that Israel and the US were working on plans for a comprehensive deal to end the war in Gaza and reach normalization agreements with further Arab countries.