The Tel Aviv District Court on Sunday granted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a 14-day postponement of his testimony in his corruption trial as he recovers from prostate removal surgery.
Netanyahu is facing bribery and breach-of-trust charges in three cases, labeled 1000, 2000 and 4000. The latter is the most serious, and the only one featuring bribery charges.
The judges wrote that other witnesses for the defense would testify during the 14-day period, according to Israel’s Channel 14. The prosecution reportedly insisted that during that period Netanyahu observe the orders of his physicians, which have not been made public. Netanyahu underwent the surgery on Dec. 29 and was discharged from hospital on Jan. 2.
Netanyahu, who has denied all wrongdoing and called the trials “an absurdity” at one of his recent court appearances, last testified on Dec. 24.
In Case 4000, Netanyahu is accused of granting 1.8 billion shekels ($500 million) in regulatory favors to Bezeq Telecom Israel in exchange for positive media coverage of himself and his wife, Sara, by the Walla news site, which was controlled by Bezeq’s former chairman, Shaul Elovitch.
In Case 1000, Netanyahu is accused of receiving gifts to the tune of $196,000 from two billionaires, which prosecutors say broke the law.
The third case, considered the weakest of the three, has Netanyahu purportedly failing to decline an alleged offer by Yedioth Ahronoth publisher Arnon Mozes to give him positive coverage in exchange for promoting a bill designed to weaken a competing newspaper. Mozes has not been charged with a criminal offense in connection with the case.
