The Tel Aviv District Court on Monday approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s request to cancel his scheduled testimony in his ongoing corruption trial on Tuesday, citing “security commitments.”
Netanyahu had asked the court to postpone his appearance due to unspecified but urgent security-related engagements. The prosecution did not object, and the three-judge panel accepted the request, canceling the session without requiring further explanation.
Monday’s brief court appearance marked Netanyahu’s first since he formally asked President Isaac Herzog on Sunday to grant him a pardon from the long-running corruption charges.
In a one-page letter made public over the weekend, Netanyahu requested clemency, describing the move as necessary for national unity and to allow him to focus fully on Israel’s security challenges. He did not admit guilt and made no commitment to leave politics.
The prime minister has repeatedly sought to postpone or shorten trial sessions multiple times since testimony began, frequently citing overseas travel, diplomatic crises, the war in Gaza, and other security obligations.
The trial revolves around three separate corruption cases, officially designated 1000, 2000, and 4000, in which Netanyahu faces charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust — allegations he has consistently denied, calling the proceedings a politically motivated “witch hunt.”
Case 1000, known as the “Gifts Affair,” alleges that Netanyahu and his wife Sara illegally accepted nearly $200,000 worth of cigars, champagne, jewelry, and other luxury items from billionaire friends Arnon Milchan and James Packer between 2007 and 2016 in exchange for political and personal favors.
Case 2000 centers on recorded conversations in which Netanyahu allegedly negotiated with Yedioth Ahronoth publisher Arnon Mozes for more favorable coverage in return for legislation that would have weakened the circulation of rival newspaper Israel Hayom.
Case 4000, widely regarded as the most serious, accuses Netanyahu of granting hundreds of millions of dollars in regulatory benefits to Bezeq telecommunications company while he simultaneously served as communications minister, in return for positive coverage on the company’s Walla news website, then controlled by Bezeq’s majority shareholder Shaul Elovitch.
Cross-examination of Netanyahu in all three cases began in January 2025, but the pace has been repeatedly disrupted by approved postponements linked to the ongoing war and regional tensions.
The corruption trial is unfolding against the backdrop of unprecedented international legal pressure on the Israeli leader. In November 2024, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, accusing both men of war crimes and crimes against humanity for their roles in the Gaza war. The warrants specifically cite the deliberate use of starvation as a method of warfare and the systematic attack on Gaza’s civilian population.
The Gaza war, triggered by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack that killed approximately 1,200 Israelis and took 251 hostages, has resulted in catastrophic loss of life in Gaza. According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, whose figures are considered broadly reliable by the United Nations and World Health Organization, more than 70,100 Palestinians — the majority women and children — have been killed as of late November 2025. Thousands more remain missing under rubble, and indirect deaths from disease, malnutrition, and the collapse of medical services continue to mount even after a fragile ceasefire took effect in October 2025.
Netanyahu’s pardon request has sharply divided Israeli society. Supporters within his Likud party and the broader right-wing coalition argue that prosecuting a sitting prime minister during wartime weakens national security and that clemency would help heal domestic rifts. Opposition leaders, former justices, and anti-corruption watchdogs warn that granting a pardon without conviction or admission of wrongdoing would deal a severe blow to the rule of law and the principle that no one is above accountability.
President Herzog has described the request as carrying “far-reaching implications” and said his office will examine it thoroughly in consultation with the Justice Ministry’s pardons department and independent legal experts. Most analysts expect the review process to take weeks or even months.
As Israel navigates persistent threats from Hezbollah in Lebanon, Houthi attacks from Yemen, and Iranian proxies across the region, Netanyahu’s overlapping domestic and international legal battles continue to cast a long shadow over the country’s political landscape. Whatever President Herzog ultimately decides, the outcome is likely to have profound consequences for Israeli democracy, public trust in state institutions, and Benjamin Netanyahu’s decades-long dominance of the nation’s politics.
