Most observers believe that if there is a plea deal, it will only be after the November 1 election – and only if Netanyahu fails to form a government.
By YONAH JEREMY BOB, JPOST 15.8.22
OPPOSITION LEADER Benjamin Netanyahu arrives to testify in Jerusalem last week before the state commission of inquiry into the Meron disaster. (credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)
On September 5, in the height of election season, the trial of former prime minister (and current candidate) Benjamin Netanyahu will restart after an approximate six-week summer recess.
What have been the latest developments, and where will the trial go from here?
The Netanyahu trials: Where we stand
The trial opened in May 2000 and witnesses were first called in April 2021. The focus, so far, has mostly been on Case 4000 – the Bezeq-Walla Affair. But this past summer, the prosecution started to dig deeper into Case 1000 – the Illegal Gifts Affair.
When the trial restarts, it will be at the tail end of the cross-examination of Hadas Klein, an aide to billionaire tycoon Arnon Milchan and key prosecution witness against Netanyahu.
Following the completion of her cross-examination, the prosecution hopes to call many of the other witnesses in Case 1000, including Milchan’s driver, his house manager, suppliers who sold him the cigars and champagne so he could give them as gifts to Netanyahu – and eventually, Milchan himself.
After that, the prosecution hopes to shift gears back to Case 4000, including bringing various government regulator witnesses in an attempt to show that Netanyahu and his lieutenants improperly pressured them into helping Bezeq, and then various police interrogators of several witnesses in the case.
Finally, the prosecution plans to return to another round of Case 1000 witnesses and eventually conclude with calling witnesses for Case 2000, the Yediot Aharonot-Israel Hayom Affair.
Bibi’s lawyers: Prosecution delaying police interrogators’ testimony
The defense has complained that the prosecution is improperly delaying calling the police interrogators, who the defense is looking forward to “feasting” on for various errors it has already proved that they made.
However, the court is likely to let the prosecution have the schedule it wants for its witnesses and later extend that same courtesy to the defense when it calls its own.
Last week, former Bezeq and Walla owner Shaul Elovitch and his wife, Iris, filed a motion with the Jerusalem District Court to dismiss them from Case 4000 on the grounds of unjust treatment.
The Elovitches are at the center of the case against Netanyahu because Shaul is accused of engaging in a bribery scheme with the former prime minister of favorable government treatment for Bezeq in exchange for favorable media coverage of him at Walla.
Iris is accused of involvement in select aspects of the media coverage side of the scheme, including passing messages between Sara Netanyahu and Shaul or other Walla personnel, and of knowledge that there was a quid pro quo.
According to the motion, the defense said the prosecution and the police have abused the defendants in a systematic manner, which has been borne out as the trial has developed over the last two-plus years.
The motion especially cites the police’s abusive treatment of former Netanyahu top aide Nir Hefetz.
However, the prosecution has previously replied that even if not everything that was done with Hefetz was proper, his testimony – that he turned against Netanyahu out of a rational calculation of his own interests and to tell the truth – serves to mitigate the impact on the case of how the former aide was treated.
In addition, the defense said the police manufactured a narrative and then tried to coerce many witnesses to play ball with that narrative, such as another one of Netanyahu’s former top aides, Shlomo Filber.
The prosecution has also already addressed this issue, saying Filber’s accusations against Netanyahu were all voluntary and that any changes of testimony he made from the police to the court related to his loyalty to his former boss politically as well as trying to improve his image after committing crimes.
The court will likely reject the Elovitches’ motion to dismiss, as well as a parallel one that Netanyahu is expected to file.
Will Benjamin Netanyahu be acquitted?
But the court may still use these holes in the prosecution’s case at a later date to acquit Netanyahu.
In addition, the court may start to put more pressure on the sides to reach a deal.
In January, the two sides were close to a deal, but Netanyahu would not agree to end his career in politics, even with a commitment from the prosecution not to seek jail time.
Most observers believe that if there is a deal, it will only be after the November 1 election – and only if Netanyahu fails to form a government.
At that point, he might be willing again to take the one he was offered this past January.
If there is no deal, the trial is expected to last about another year and possibly longer, when adding in the defense witnesses as well as some months for the court to contemplate and issue its verdict.
@PELONI-
Yes, it seems that they care nothing about world opinion of the Israeli Injustice System, and have laid themselves bare in this all out attempt to railroad a political opponent. The stench will take 50 years to disperse if it ever does. I believe it will linger on, like the Altalena massacre and eventually lead to an Israeli decline of importance in International Affairs. There is still occasional mention of Haim Arlosoroff’s heinous murder..
An Israel run by shameless (legal) criminals will be tolerated only for so long,any before distrust outweighs any economic trading benefit..
peloni 1986 xoxoxoox
@Edgar
You are not wrong, but the simple truth is that it really is not about the evidence presented to the court. It is about the court’s willingness to base a verdict on the evidence presented during the trial. In other words, if the judges are committed to finding Bibi guilty, they will do so, regardless of how ludicrous our meaningless the evidence is shown to be. If they are willing to judge him on the evidence, there is nothing here so far, from my reading of the reports similar to yourself, but also in the opinion of Abraham Bell who is a law professor from Bar Illan Univ who is watching the case.
He was interviewed by Caroline here (link). Bell further asserts that Bibi was never intended to be tried, that they had expected him to resign and the matter would be dropped. They, only tried him because he wouldn’t resign in disgrace. Bell goes on to explain that Bibi will likely be found guilty regardless of the evidence. Pretty powerful interview discussing the Israeli Deep State and all that has taken place leading upto this trial, including the use of bugging the phones of those around Bibi, a criminal act which was investigated by the person responsible for having ordered it – yes, she found herself not to have broken any significant laws. Consequently, Bell concludes that Bibi will be found guilty. Hopefully he is wrong, but it will be some time before we know, in any event.
@Honeybee
Thank you for letting me know about this. I had heard that this was coming down, but hadn’t heard it break.
The case against Peters is bogus. She had a duty, not just a right mind you, to secure the election record from tampering or corruption. When she was alerted that Sec. of State was having something done on the election PCs, she acted according to the law and secured a record of the previous election in the form of a forensic copy of the election. All this noise about Peters is for the press to use and distract the public from the importance of and inviolability of the forensic evidence.
What was found in the Mesa County Forensic Report #3 on the forensic copy of the election is unassailable. It is similar to a photograph being taken of a crime. Regardless of what they try to concoct to impugn Peters, her reputation or the people in the office, it does not refute the Forensic Report, which was placed before the State’s forensic experts who testified under oath that they had no explanation for what was found on the forensic copy of the hard drive. It wasn’t human intervention, and it wasn’t online intervention. The PC simply acted on its own, as if it had an onboard program instructing it to change the entire election outcome during the election.
Consequently, even if they are successful in charging, prosecuting and sentencing Peters, which I do not believe will be the case, it would not refute, in any way, what was documented in the forensic copy of the election. That Forensic Report #3 documents massive election fraud in a county which was not contested and which the County Election Clerk, Peters, did not initially believe was fraudulent. We have them dead to right and they know it.
It would take the SCOTUS stating that fraud is legitimate to prevent what needs to take place. The SCOTUS has disappointed us with punting moot rulings, but they will literally have to support the legality of criminal activity to erase the significance of this evidence.
I had understood, from news outlet reports that the “key Prosecution witnesses had all testified in favour of Netanyahu, that they had bee forced by the police and prosecution to make false statements of accusation against Netanyahu.
The article seems to negate all this.
peloni 1986 https://kdvr.com/news/local/mesa-county-deputy-clerk-agrees-to-testify-against-tina-peters/
Caronine Glick discusses the Israeli Deep State and its war on the Right. Very relevant details shared regarding its assault on Bibi and the development of the charges which formed the trial which is discussed above.
As Caroline discusses with Abraham Bell, the manner in which the Legal Fraternity accomplishes this one sided war is to develop an authority of interpreting everyone as being guilty, as was done when they interpreted the act of seeking better news coverage by a politician (such as Bibi) as being bribery, and then judge that it is simply not in the public’s interest to prosecute such charges against those politicians who they do not deem to be a threat, such as Lapid.
They also discuss the circle of corruption which has been employed by the police, the Judges as well as the oversight authorities which are specifically empowered to protect individuals from the abuse of power being empoloyed to achieve these ends.
You will want to hear this, at least once. Here is the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2159&v=Uke6m99FQwA&feature=emb_logo
Chanah,
As an American Christian, I’m usually befuddled by the Israeli election process. What with Spygate, RussiaRussiaRussia and the DC Kangaroo Court,
the Netanyahu trial seems as normal as Mom and Apple Pie!
This whole fishing expedition is a waste of taxpayer money. I don’t know anyone who cares about this case. Already we’ve heard from others who point out that Bibi didn’t do anything out of the ordinary. And why take so long – if the govt had any evidence of wrongdoing, they should have made their case in court by now. Just acquit Bibi already.