As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu finished testifying in the Jerusalem District Court, Israel's legal and political circles were actively debating the case and its wider consequences. Senior criminal lawyer Shashi Gaz discussed the situation on Radio 103FM on Thursday with Anat Davidov and Nisim Mishal, and argued that the trial has come to dominate both Netanyahu's legal strategy and the country's public life.
Gaz said he believes “everything that happened to the Jewish people in the last three years” was caused by the trial, adding that the judicial overhaul and even October 7 were linked, in his view, to the case. He said Netanyahu is playing to two audiences at once, the court and his supporters, and that his statements are aimed at the base ahead of an election that could come soon.
Despite the trial reaching an advanced stage, Gaz said a plea deal or mediation still has not been ruled out. He suggested a possible “creative solution” could involve presidential clemency after Netanyahu takes responsibility for Case 1000.
On the substance of the charges, Gaz said Case 1000, the gifts affair, poses the biggest danger to Netanyahu, saying there is “a very big danger” he will be convicted because Netanyahu argues he received the gifts as part of friendship. By contrast, he said Case 4000, the Walla-Bezeq affair, is the most serious overall, but he believes the bribery charge is already effectively off the table after the judges signaled they wanted it dropped. In his view, the court is unlikely to reverse that position now, because both the public and the defendant heard it.
