Court Rejects Netanyahu’s Request to Postpone Corruption Trial

JERUSALEM, Israel – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial will begin as scheduled on May 17 after the Jerusalem District Court on Tuesday rejected Netanyahu’s request to postpone it.

Netanyahu’s lawyers asked for the delay because they said they need more time to review the evidence against him.

Judge Rivka Friedman-Feldman, who will lead the three-judge panel presiding over Netanyahu’s trial, said she rejected the request because March 17 is merely a reading of the charges against Netanyahu and a response from the defense team is not necessary.

“Accordingly, there are no grounds for justifying the postponement of the hearing,” she ruled.

Netanyahu has been charged with fraud, breach of trust, and accepting bribes in three separate corruption cases. He denies all allegations and claims he is the victim of a witch hunt.

Netanyahu’s attorneys say they have yet to receive all the case material from the state prosecution.

“A few months ago an indictment was filed against the prime minister, yet until now we have not received the material. Therefore, we applied to the court with a technical request to delay the date of the hearing, so that we can first receive the investigation material — and only afterwards appear in court,” Netanyahu’s chief defense attorney Amit Hadad said in a statement.

Haaretz reports that the dispute over the materials stems from a disagreement about how the documents should be handed over. The state prosecution has already prepared the files, but Netanyahu’s attorneys reportedly want them to be scanned and digitized, the report said.

Israel’s Attorney General, Avichai Mandelbit, previously told Netanyahu’s lawyers that have already received all or nearly all of the case material and any remaining disagreements between them and the prosecution will be resolved at the March 17 hearing.

Mandelbit formally indicted Netanyahu on November 21, making him the first sitting prime minister to be charged with a crime.

All this comes as Israel just finished its third election in less than a year in an effort to break through a political deadlock.

Netanyahu’s Likud party won more seats than its rival Blue and White party. However, Likud does not have enough seats in Israel’s 120-seat parliament to form a government and many Israelis fear they could be headed for a fourth election.