Court rejects Netanyahu’s request to testify two days a week instead of three

The Jerusalem District Court rejects Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s request to testify two days a week instead of three, a request he made citing his leadership responsibilities and heavy workload because of the ongoing war.

The court does, however, agree to Netanyahu’s request to start the hearings only at 10 a.m. and not 9 a.m., though it says the hearings will go on until 4 p.m. and not 3 p.m as the prime minister had sought.

There will only be two hearings next week when Netanyahu will first take the stand since the start date for his testimony is set for the middle of the week.

The testimony will begin on December 10 at 10 a.m., with Netanyahu testifying from an underground hall in the Tel Aviv District Court since the Jerusalem District Court lacks adequate security arrangements.

“The request [to move down to two days a week] is denied since we have not found a convincing reason to deviate from previous, similar decisions on the same issue,” the court rules.

The judges add that they will consider allowing breaks during Netanyahu’s testimony if there is a “justified reason” for doing so, if issues arise that demand his urgent attention, in order to address the prime minister’s need to carry out his functions as premier.

Some weeks have also been scheduled with four days of testimony. However, the court says that it will cancel one scheduled hearing in the second week of Netanyahu’s testimony on December 15, so that he will only need to appear in court three times instead of four that week. A hearing scheduled for December 25 will also be canceled due to the needs of the Tel Aviv District Court, meaning there will only be three hearings that week as well.