Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will take the witness stand in his criminal trial testimony on Wednesday at its regular hours, from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Jerusalem District Court Judges Rivka Friedman-Feldman, Oded Shaham and Moshe Bar-Am announced in a Tuesday decision.
The hearings went on recess for the High Holidays and were scheduled to return on Wednesday. In between, Israel and Hamas signed a Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal, led by US President Donald Trump. On Monday, the 20 live hostages that were still held by Hamas were returned to Israel, while the bodies of slain captives have not all been released yet by the terrorist organization.
On Sunday, Netanyahu requested, through his defense attorneys, to cancel the scheduled Wednesday hearing, due to a scheduling conflict.
"Important and urgent"
He was due to hold two “important and urgent” diplomatic meetings that day, one with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides at 11 a.m., and another with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto at 6 p.m. The defense did not name Subianto in its Sunday request, but his identity was confirmed on Monday.
The prosecution did not object to cancelling the Wednesday testimony, but did insist that instead, the prime minister testify on Thursday. The court ordered that his testimony instead take place from 12:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. to accommodate the meetings.
On Tuesday, the defense updated that the shift in schedule won’t be necessary, and that the prime minister will be available to testify during the regularly scheduled hours.
Netanyahu was indicted on the criminal charges of bribery, fraud and breach-of-trust in three separate cases: 1000, 2000 and 4000. He has pleaded not guilty to all three, and the trial is currently in the midst of cross-examination.