Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to oppose a decision to expand his criminal trial to five hearing days a week when he appears before the Jerusalem District Court on Monday.
The panel, headed by Judges Rivka Friedman-Feldman, Moshe Bar-Am, and Oded Shaham, ruled on Wednesday that proceedings would return to Jerusalem after Netanyahu completed his testimony. Beginning October 4, after the High Holy Days, hearings are to be held Sunday through Thursday.
Netanyahu’s defense attorney, Amit Hadad, said on Monday that the decision would mean his team would work around the clock, which is “unrealistic.”
He argued that the change would actually slow down the trial - rather than speed it up - because his team wouldn’t have the time to prepare witnesses properly.
“If the court wants to shorten this trial, the solution cannot be to stifle us - this is a shortcut that is actually long,” Hadad said. “We simply won’t be able to do it.”
“The only trial we managed to find that took place five days a week was Eichmann’s trial,” said Hadad, adding that he had warned the prime minister that he wouldn’t be able to provide a thorough defense for him at this rate.
The attorney representing Shaul and Iris Elovich - defendants of Case 4000 - Jacques Chen, recalled to the judges what they had once said, that this is a historic case unlike any other, both in scale and depth.
“Five days is inhumane, unrealistic and mismatched to any human capabilities within these time constraints,” said Chen.
He further argued that this decision violates the Elovich couple’s right to due process, and echoed Hadad in the unrealistic preparatory requirements this would mean for witnesses.
“This isn’t the way,” he said, to speed up the trial, adding that those who will pay the steepest price for this decision are the defendants.
Brivery charge needs to be removed, Hadad says
Netanyahu was indicted in 2020 on charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust in three cases. His trial began that year, and he first took the witness stand in December 2024.
Hadad specifically took aim at the bribery charge, the most weighty one and which is applicable only to one of the three cases in the indictment, Case 4000. He said that “the bribery charge needs to be thrown out the window... Even you [the judges] don't know what to do with it... If the bribery charge stays, we are talking about [presenting] hundreds of witnesses.”
Both Hadad and Chen projected that they would not be able to provide proper defense for their clients at this schedule.
Attorney Sharon Kleiman, representing Arnon “Noni” Mozes, the publisher of Yediot Aharonot and Ynet and the chief defendant in Case 2000, is peripheral in the context of the entire indictment, has been dealing with this legal process for too many years, and that what this would mean for him, as a defendant, cannot be explained away.
Netanyahu recalled the extent to which the system had to twist around his schedule and security needs as prime minister to even get this far in the trial.
“What is happening here is a massive distortion of justice,” said the prime minister.
The trial is “a criminal use of the justice system against me,” he added.
The prosecution completed its cross-examination of Netanyahu earlier this month, after which the defense conducted limited re-examination. The trial is now expected to continue with remaining defense witnesses before the parties submit closing summaries and the three-judge panel issues a verdict.
Judges expand case trial to four days a week
The case was initially heard three days a week. In September 2025, the judges expanded the schedule to four days a week in an effort to accelerate proceedings, particularly ahead of Friedman-Feldman’s expected retirement in March 2028.
The defense opposed that change as well, arguing that it would place an unsustainable burden on a legal team representing other clients. The panel ultimately retained the four-day schedule.
Under the new order, the defense will be required to prepare witnesses for every hearing day and arrange alternative witnesses where necessary to prevent cancellations.