Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared at the Jerusalem District Court on Monday to personally oppose the judges' push to hold hearings five days a week. His defense attorney Amit Hadad warned that only the Eichmann trial was conducted at such a pace, arguing it would force work on Shabbat and holidays and delay the verdict beyond March 2028 — when presiding Judge Rivka Friedman-Feldman is set to retire.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared at the Jerusalem District Court Monday morning (Jun 29) to personally oppose the judges' push to hold hearings five days a week — a proposal that, as The Zioneer reported on Jun 24, had already been flagged as driven in part by presiding Judge Rivka Friedman-Feldman's retirement deadline in March 2028. Attorney Amit Hadad, Netanyahu's lead defense counsel, told the court that only the Eichmann trial in Israeli history was conducted at such a pace, warning the compressed schedule would force work on Shabbat and holidays and would paradoxically delay the verdict beyond Friedman-Feldman's retirement. The three-judge panel — Friedman-Feldman, Moshe Bar-Am, and Oded Shaham — had signaled their intention to move to five weekly sessions after the holiday period, as first reported by The Zioneer at 10:07 Jerusalem on Monday.
According to published timeline, the sequence of arguments unfolded rapidly on Monday. At 09:51 Jerusalem, The Zioneer's initial report noted Likud activists had gathered outside the courthouse in support of the prime minister. By the same timestamp, subsequent updates showed that Hadad argued the five-day schedule forces work on Shabbat and violates basic labor rules; that he compared the pace to the Eichmann trial; and that Netanyahu nodded in agreement during the hearing. The judges have not yet issued a final ruling on the schedule, leaving open whether the defense's fairness concerns will outweigh the court's institutional interest in meeting Friedman-Feldman's retirement deadline.
As The Zioneer reported on Jun 23, Netanyahu's testimony in the corruption trial began with his defense team declining to commit to a timeline for questioning. That context underscores the defense's argument that a rushed schedule would compound the challenges of preparing witnesses — a claim the court will weigh against its own need to produce a verdict before the judge's retirement. Likud activists gathered outside the courthouse, as noted in The Zioneer's coverage at 09:51 Jerusalem, but the court has not acknowledged their presence in its deliberations.
**What remains open:** The judges have not yet ruled on the schedule. The defense's warning that the accelerated pace would delay the verdict beyond Friedman-Feldman's retirement has not been addressed by the court. No official statement has been issued by the court on the timeline or its rationale.
5 developments
- StrongNetanyahu trial judges push to five-day schedule as Friedman-Feldman faces retirement deadline
- DevelopingNetanyahu trial to accelerate to five hearings per week after holidays
- StrongNetanyahu says attorney Hadad called him 'in a catastrophe,' asked to resign
- DevelopingAt trial, Netanyahu tells judges he sees very high prosecution responsiveness
Source and signal
- Internal intake