The Trial of the Alps: The Jerusalem District Court rejected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's request to reduce the pace of hearings in his cases.
The decision, published this evening (Wednesday), determined that the proceedings will continue in a format of four hearings per week, and that Netanyahu's cross-examination will take place three days a week - despite the burden placed on Netanyahu due to the security situation in which the State of Israel finds itself, and despite requests from the defense to ease the intensity of the hearings.
In submitting the request, the defense attorneys and Netanyahu claimed that the schedule would place a great burden on them professionally and personally, would harm the quality of the defense, and would even interfere with Netanyahu from fulfilling his role as prime minister, especially in managing the campaign in Gaza.
The judges, for their part, showed intransigence and stated that although they had seriously considered the claims, they had come to the conclusion that the need to move the trial forward outweighed them.
According to them, although Netanyahu faces many challenges, this will not harm his ability to participate in the trial with the required intensity.
Justice Minister Yariv Levin criticized the holding of legal hearings in Prime Minister Netanyahu's case during the fighting.
He said, "The fact that while still leading one of the most difficult wars Israel has ever known, in critical days for the country's security, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was forced to devote half a week to managing this ill-advised process is a disgrace.".
The judges wrote in the decision: "We do not take lightly the deference attached to the format of the hearings that we have determined," the decision reads. "However, we are not convinced by the claim of harm to the defense of the defendants. In the past, a similar, and even more intensive, format of hearings was determined in huge cases where this was required (for example, in the bankers' and Holyland cases).
""There is no indication that this has harmed the defense's ability to properly defend the defendants. These are experienced defense teams, who have the ability to make the necessary adjustments to fulfill their duties properly. So does Mr. Netanyahu, and this is without diminishing, in the slightest, the challenges facing him in general and these days in particular.".
""In the past, in the face of similar arguments for respect, we refrained from deciding to move the trial to a four-day hearing per week. However, at the current juncture, the balance has changed. This is a huge case, and in many ways unprecedented in our region, both in its scope and complexity.".
""The process has been going on for more than five years. We still have a long way to go. The defense case is at its beginning, and is progressing at a slow pace. The end of the term of office of some of the members of the jury, as stipulated by law, is on the horizon. In all these circumstances, our duty to decide the case requires a significant increase in the format of the hearings, at this stage to four hearings per week, without diminishing the difficulties that this poses to the defense and the defendants.".
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