Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday finished testifying in his trial, 18 months after he first took the stand, after 98 hearings, most of them shortened or canceled. The testimony took place in a fortified courtroom at the Tel Aviv District Court. At the end, Netanyahu said, “I am finishing after 10 years of hell, there is no other word,” and added that while he is trying to lead the country through “perhaps the biggest challenges,” he sees what he called “this vile, false, malicious thing” aimed not only at his rights but at the public’s right to choose its leader.
He said, “You cannot give back these 10 years, not to me, not to my family and not to the families who were hurt. To cast a net here and catch people in such a transparent and distorted way. If the truth and justice can be brought, then I ask you to bring them.” His lawyer, Amit Hadad, thanked the judges for their patience and consideration, saying, “It is not obvious. I don’t think they will miss us.” Presiding judge Rivka Friedman-Feldman declared, “And with that, the hearings in Tel Aviv court are over.”
The last days of testimony were limited to clarification questions in a re-examination phase, with many questions rejected by the judges. The case now moves to the defense phase, in which the defendants will present their witnesses. The judges have already ordered Netanyahu’s defense team to submit its witness list, and they plan to speed up the trial so the evidentiary stage ends in about a year, before Friedman-Feldman retires in March 2028.
Under the law, she would then have three months to finish remaining verdict writing, meaning the ruling must be issued by July 2028. If the trial is still unfinished by then, the judges could be reappointed as senior judges with the approval of the president of the Supreme Court and the justice minister, or a new judge could be added, though that would be difficult because the judge would not have heard the evidence. After the defense evidence, the court will hear closing arguments and then draft the verdict.
The judges have expanded the schedule to four hearing days a week, but the effort to accelerate the case has been hampered by the war, the security situation, and Netanyahu’s repeated requests to shorten or cancel hearings, which were mostly accepted. Now that his testimony is over, the judges expect fewer disruptions. Netanyahu’s lawyers are expected this week to submit their witness list, which may include former attorney general Avichai Mandelblit and former state prosecutor Shai Nitzan. During the week’s three hearings, Netanyahu spoke little because many defense questions were opposed by prosecutors and rejected by the court. In Case 1000, he argued that the state was inflating the value of gifts he allegedly received from businessman Arnon Milchan by a factor of 10 and said prosecutors were trying to incriminate a prime minister. In Case 2000, involving Yedioth Ahronoth publisher Noni Mozes, he said prosecutors misled him and distorted the record in order to create the false impression that he had made a deal.
