Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not testify on Wednesday in his criminal trial after the presiding panel of Judges Rivka Friedman-Feldman, Moshe Bar-Am, and Oded Shaham accepted a request to postpone the hearing due to what they described as a “security issue.”
The decision followed the presentation of a sealed envelope to the judges and to the prosecution during Monday’s session at the Tel Aviv District Court. Although the prosecution did not oppose the postponement, it asked that Thursday be added as a makeup hearing. The judges rejected that request.
Netanyahu’s trial, which began in 2020, encompasses three cases – 1000, 2000, and 4000 – involving charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust. Monday’s hearing continued the questioning in Case 1000.
The case is composed of two parallel breach-of-trust allegations. The first concerns Netanyahu’s receipt of expensive gifts from billionaires Arnon Milchan and James Packer, including large quantities of cigars and champagne valued in the indictment at nearly NIS 700,000.
The second centers on actions Netanyahu allegedly took for Milchan while serving as prime minister, despite a clear conflict of interest. These include assisting Milchan with the renewal of his US visa, directing then-Communications Ministry director-general Shlomo Filber regarding the proposed Keshet-Reshet merger, and advancing an extension of a tax exemption for returning residents that would have benefited Milchan.
Monday’s hearing marked the end of the cross-examination in Case 1000 and focused heavily on Netanyahu’s longstanding claim that he believed he was permitted to accept gifts from friends because he had received legal advice allowing it.
Netanyahu’s version of events has evolved over the course of the trial
Prosecution representative attorney Yonatan Tadmor walked Netanyahu through the shifting timeline of his statements on this point, showing that Netanyahu’s version had evolved considerably since his first interrogation in 2017.
In that initial questioning, Netanyahu said he might have consulted with then-attorney-general Yehuda Weinstein, while in later interrogations he introduced additional names, including attorneys Yaakov Weinroth and David Shimron, and in his court testimony he relied on an opinion from Shlomit Barnea-Farago, who had served as the legal adviser to the Prime Minister’s Office.
Tadmor noted that Netanyahu had told police that he had not consulted Barnea-Farago, even though he now invoked her written opinion as part of his defense.
Netanyahu maintained that his recollection had simply sharpened over time, saying that “memory refreshes,” and insisted that he had indeed received legal reassurance “over the years.”
Tadmor pressed Netanyahu on why he sought repeated assurances from Weinroth if he was confident that the gifts were permissible. Netanyahu raised his voice at several points, insisting that he was being persecuted and that the repeated inquiries stemmed from concern that “if I sneeze, they write articles about it.”
Tadmor suggested that Netanyahu’s repeated consultations reflected the ongoing, substantial flow of gifts from Milchan and Packer. Netanyahu rejected that characterization, describing the exchanges instead as gestures between close friends and denying what he called a “steady supply line.”
The prosecution also highlighted contradictions between Netanyahu’s description of his conversations with Weinroth and the late attorney’s own testimony. Weinroth told investigators that he knew Packer primarily as a friend of Yair Netanyahu – not the prime minister – and that he had not received full details of the luxury items Netanyahu was being given.
Netanyahu dismissed these gaps as the result of Weinroth’s failing health at the time, though he had not raised this issue during the investigation. Tadmor argued that Netanyahu had repeatedly referred police to Weinroth’s version and had never claimed the attorney was unable to recall events accurately.
As cross-examination in Case 1000 concluded, the court was expected to shift on Tuesday to Case 4000, in which Netanyahu is charged with bribery for allegedly advancing regulatory benefits for Shaul Elovitch’s Bezeq in exchange for editorial influence over the Walla news website.