Netanyahu responds to petition demanding he recuse himself during corruption trial testimony this month

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issues a response to a petition requesting that he be ordered to recuse himself from office while testifying in his criminal trial later this month.

He decries the petition as a “very serious attempt” to drag the judicial system into politics, “contrary to the law and contrary to the decision of the elected democratic institutions on whether the prime minister can continue to serve in his petition.”

The High Court of Justice ordered him to respond to the petition by December 1, as he was slated to begin testifying in court on December 2. The start of his testimony was later pushed back until December 10.

The prime minister has been charged with fraud and breach of trust in two cases and with bribery, fraud and breach of trust in a third. He was indicted in January 2020, and a trial encompassing all three cases began in May of that year.