Case 4000: The parties reached an agreement - the hearings will be suspended for three weeks

June 16, 2021   

The judges of the Jerusalem District Court today (Wednesday) rejected the request of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's lawyers to postpone the hearings for the continuation of the cross-examination in Case 4000 until after the Tishrei holidays.

This is because of the new investigative materials that are expected to be received from the phone of Ilan Yeshua, former Walla CEO.

According to the judges' decision, all of the investigative materials that the judges decided on last week will be transferred to the defense team by July 20th.

Initially, the judges determined that the hearings would continue as usual next week with the next witness, Aviram Elad - but later the parties reached an agreement: the hearings would be suspended for three weeks, and the trial would resume with Yeshua's testimony.

Previously, the defense attorneys for Netanyahu and the Elovitch couple claimed that in order to prepare for the examination of a witness, they needed time – and therefore requested that the trial continue after the Tishrei holidays.

In response to the judges' initial decision, the Elovitch couple's defense attorneys announced that they would not question the next witnesses in the trial, due to the harm they claim to their defense.

Netanyahu's defense attorney proposed as a compromise to postpone the continuation of the hearings for two weeks until the materials are received, but the judges insist that their decision is final.

This morning, as mentioned, the prosecution and defense requested that the testimony of former Walla CEO Ilan Yeshua be stopped due to the renewed search of his phone.

The prosecution requested a two-week postponement to prepare the materials for transfer to the defense.

The defense attorneys, on the other hand, requested a longer period of time, until after the holidays, due to the summer break and Sukkot recess in the courts.

Today, Yeshua's cross-examination by Netanyahu's defense attorney, Attorney Ben-Zur, is scheduled to come to an end.

After that, Yeshua is expected to undergo further investigation by the prosecutor's office and later be questioned about the new materials that will be received.