Prosecutors demand copy of Shin Bet head’s letter on PM’s inability to testify

The State Attorney’s Office on Tuesday requested that the Jerusalem District Court hand over a reported Shin Bet document determining that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is unable to testify at his criminal trial due to the risk that Iran may attempt to harm him during a court appearance.

Channel 13 news reported on Sunday that, along with Netanyahu’s own request to postpone his trial by two weeks, Shin Bet chief David Zini had submitted a letter to the Courts Administration’s legal adviser, warning that there would be a risk to the premier’s life if an upcoming lengthy public appearance, such as court testimony, was public knowledge.

In a letter to the court sent Tuesday, the State Attorney’s Office said that it had not received Zini’s position paper, despite standard practice for the prosecutor’s office to receive information pertinent to court proceedings, and had learned of it through media reports.

“The prosecution has no knowledge of whether such a position paper was submitted for the consideration of the court, and whether such a position paper was a consideration in the court’s decision to cancel the hearing of [Netanyahu’s] testimony this week,” the State Attorney’s Office told the court.

The State Attorney’s Office said it should have received Zini’s position paper. It asked the court to transmit it to the prosecutor’s office, and to make clear that all such documentation be passed on to it in the future.

In response to the reports of Zini’s position paper, the Movement for Quality Government in Israel said the revelation was strikingly similar to accusations made by Zini’s predecessor Ronen Bar that Netanyahu had repeatedly asked him to issue position papers to the court that the premier was unable to testify due to security threats.

“Bar refused. Bar was fired. Now, with Shin Bet head David Zini, whom Netanyahu himself appointed, the position paper that Netanyahu failed to get from the previous Shin Bet head is suddenly being accepted,” the Movement for Quality Government charged.

The organization, which had petitioned the High Court of Justice against Zini’s appointment, said: “This is exactly the scenario we warned against.”

The Jerusalem District Court agreed on Sunday to cancel Netanyahu’s testimony in three scheduled hearings this week, although the decision was based on a separate position paper, the State Attorney’s Office said, regarding the general security and diplomatic situation in the region due to the recent conflict with Iran.

Netanyahu, the first sitting prime minister to be charged with a crime, denies charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust brought in 2019 after years of investigations.

His trial, which began in 2020 and could lead to a jail term, has been repeatedly delayed due to his official commitments, with no end date in sight and the prime minister repeatedly asking for postponements.

The charges against Netanyahu, along with the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023, have damaged his standing. Israel is due to hold an election in October that unreliable polls suggest Netanyahu’s coalition, the most right-wing in Israel’s history, could lose. However, the polls also show the Zionist opposition  parties being unable to put together a majority unless they join forces with Arab parties.

The prime minister also currently has a pardon request being examined by President Isaac Herzog.

Herzog is under intense pressure from coalition members and from US President Donald Trump to pardon Netanyahu.

Over the last few months, Trump has ratcheted up pressure on Herzog to do so, calling Herzog “full of crap” and a “weak and pathetic guy” because he has not yet issued a pardon.

The Israeli president said that he will make a decision “without pressure and without noise from any direction,” an apparent reference to Trump’s attacks, and criticized Netanyahu for not pushing back against the US leader’s comments.

Times of Israel staff and Reuters contributed to this report.