In an extraordinary turnaround, the Jerusalem District Court ordered the postponement of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s trial on Friday, citing the coronavirus lockdown and the large number of necessary participants.
The order could potentially postpone the calling of witnesses to right before Election Day, or right after.
The order came less than 48 hours after the same court rejected Netanyahu’s request for postponing his January 13 hearing next week.
The court had said although the prosecution had amended the indictment, Netanyahu’s lawyers had a full year to study the original indictment and that the changes were not significantly substantive, and the case could proceed.
At the same time, the court took Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit to task for failing to turn over original protocols and internal documents in which he approved the investigation in 2016.
The court ordered him to immediately produce these documents for the defense, while permitting him to censor the documents’ irrelevant material.
The postponement of Netanyahu’s trial was swiftly denounced by opposition party leaders.
“A prime minister up to his neck in investigations has no public or ethical mandate to decide such fateful things,” said head of the opposition and Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid, adding that it was a “real concern” that Netanyahu will make decisions based on his personal interests and survival and not the national interest.
Ron Huladai, head of the Israelis Party, took the opportunity to attack Blue and White leader and Defense Minister Benny Gantz for allowing the courts to get to such a situation, saying it showed Gantz “capitulating to Bibi.”
Gantz retorted that he had no control over the court decision, and that in general he had left the courts open to allow them to halt proceedings according to the considerations of the judges themselves.
“The greater problem is that a prime minister of Israel is serving under indictment, and so there is a cloud of personal and legal considerations floating above his decisions,” said Gantz. “It is this reality that we need to change in the coming election.”
Yisrael Beytenyu leader Avigdor Liberman acerbically noted on Twitter a headline that read: “Because of the shutdown: Netanyahu’s court hearing delayed,” adding, “Do you also see the connection?,” essentially accusing the prime minister of instituting a new COVID-19 shut down in order to evade justice.
It was unclear why the court changed its mind between Wednesday night and Friday, given that all of the new coronavirus limitations had been set by Wednesday night.
It was also unclear why Acting Justice Minister Benny Gantz kept the courts open if the final result was to postpone Netanyahu’s trial.
The prime minister’s trial was also postponed by two months from March to May during the first lockdown but was not postponed during the second one.
The court did not say when would be the new hearing date.