From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
Slamming court for not canceling testimony, PM says he spoke with 4 world leaders in past 24 hours
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At the start of his testimony in his ongoing corruption trial, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he’s spoken with four world leaders in the past 24 hours, slamming the court for not canceling his appearance today despite his request.
Instead, the court agreed to shorten his testimony to take place between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. today.
“This whole thing is absurd, it’s ridiculous,” he tells the court, according to Hebrew media reports.
“In the past 24 hours I spoke with four heads of state — with [US President Donald] Trump, you can imagine about what; with the prime minister of the Czech Republic; with Arab leaders I won’t detail, on various issues; and today with [Board of Peace Gaza chief] Nickolay Mladenov about Gaza, where there are interesting developments,” Netanyahu says.
“All of this, in addition to three security discussions with the senior defense establishment. And in the meantime, we’re devoting three hours to the question of how I responded to a headline,” Netanyahu rants, referencing ongoing questioning about his relationship with Walla news site owner Shaul Elovitch, a key element of one of the three corruption cases.
“It’s absurd. They’re wasting the time of the State of Israel,” he says.
The Times of Israel Community.