Due to a “critical and urgent” diplomatic visit on Wednesday, the details of which have not been revealed to the public yet, as well as a sudden visit by Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu requested on Sunday that his scheduled criminal trial testimony hearing on Wednesday be canceled. The court gave both sides until Sunday evening to issue responses.
The hearings in Netanyahu’s criminal trial went on recess for the holidays. Between then and now, a hostage and ceasefire deal, led by US President Donald Trump, has come into being, potentially shifting all of the current cards in Israel and the Middle East at large.
Per the defense, the prime minister is due to meet with Christodoulides for an “urgent diplomatic meeting” on Wednesday morning, followed by the second, “most important” meeting in the evening.
Netanyahu's trial
Netanyahu is on trial in three separate cases – 1000, 2000, and 4000 - and was indicted in 2020 on the charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust. He has pleaded not guilty to all three.
The trial that has ballooned to far beyond the legal realm has been ongoing since 2020, and progressed during and after the October 7, 2023, massacre and the fighting on various fronts that have followed in its wake.
The judges noted in their September decision, “We are not making light of, even slightly, the challenges that Netanyahu faces – in general and especially at these times,” adding that they had even avoided making such a decision in the past. However, the trial had now reached “a turning point.”
The case is massive in a way that is unprecedented in its size and its complications, wrote the judges, and has also been underway for over five years, they said, “and we still have a long way to go.”
The cross-examination began in June, paused for summer recess, and the hearings themselves continue to be limited, given the schedule of the prime minister, as well as the approaching retirement of some of the judges.