Will lockdown delay Netanyahu's trial again? - analysis

Next week’s hearing would feature Netanyahu in-person appearance and was also expected to be when the Jerusalem District Court would set dates in February for starting to hear witnesses, the heart of the trial.

By YONAH JEREMY BOB
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks outside of court ahead of the start of his trial, May 24, 2020 (photo credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks outside of court ahead of the start of his trial, May 24, 2020
(photo credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)
Questions resurfaced late Tuesday about whether the impending stricter third lockdown due to the continuing novel coronavirus pandemic will cause further delays in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s trial, which has January 13 set as its final pretrial witnesses hearing.
Next week’s hearing would feature Netanyahu’s in-person appearance and is also expected to be when the Jerusalem District Court will set dates in February for starting to hear witnesses, the heart of the trial.
The upcoming tightening of the third lockdown expected for the end of this week or the start of next week has ignited a multidimensional war of words as to whether the courts should stay open.
On the one hand, at 12:22 p.m., the Court Spokesperson’s Office sent out an email to reporters with detailed instructions to prepare for next week’s hearing, as is standard for such important events.
At 3:30 p.m., a spokesperson for Defense Minister and acting Justice Minister Benny Gantz said he had just recently spoken “with the attorney-general and discussed a variety of legal questions pertaining to judicial functioning and freedom of demonstration under pandemic-related regulations, Gantz stating that he is unwilling to curb freedom of demonstration nor the right to appeal.”
“The attorney-general stated that freedom of demonstration can only legally be restricted when a special state of emergency is declared and confirmed that limiting the activity of the courts and/or the right to file legal appeals are at the sole discretion of the justice minister,” the statement said. “Gantz thus intends to make these two basic rights inviolable in any lockdown arrangement decided upon by the government.”
However, at 4:49 p.m., Israel Bar Association president Avi Himi said: “The health of lawyers is not inconsequential, and if it is decided to enact a full lockdown, it must include the courts, to which hundreds and thousands of lawyers are going to every day, alongside parties to cases and citizens.”
He accused the government and the judiciary of “sacrificing them [the lawyers] on the altar of the trial of the prime minister.”
Himi said he would push for a decision to close the courts.
Although the first lockdown delayed Netanyahu’s trial from March to May, with the courts mostly closed, the second lockdown did not delay the trial, with the courts remaining nearly fully open.
Himi is a supporter of the judiciary and Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit, unlike the Likud, which might have mixed motives, so his calling for closing the courts is likely to be perceived as apolitical.
Meanwhile, the sentencing hearing for a different media bribery case, against Ashkelon Mayor Itamar Shimoni, was postponed from January 7 to January 24 because coronavirus regulations require that he enter quarantine.