Court rejects prosecutors’ request to wait on testimony from other witnesses when Netanyahu not on stand

The Jerusalem District Court has rejected a request by the State Attorney’s Office seeking to delay testimony from additional defense witnesses in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s criminal trial while the premier himself is still in the process of testifying.

The court last week requested that Netanyahu’s defense team bring other witnesses to testify on Tuesdays, after agreeing to cancel one of three planned weekly hearings in which the prime minister is testifying. The move was seen as a way to keep the trial from being bogged down while still allowing Netanyahu more time for matters of state.

But prosecutors in the case asserted to the court that having other witnesses testify on days when Netanyahu does not would taint the premier’s testimony.

“The need to advance the process does not allow acceding to the request, which would mean in practice reducing the pace of the trial to two days a week,” the court rules.

Netanyahu’s trial over three graft cases began in 2020 and is now in its fifth year, with the prime minister’s testimony and cross-examination alone likely to at least eight more months.