Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's defense attorney, Amit Hadad, argued Monday that the court's push for five-day-a-week hearings is unprecedented — comparing it to the pace of Adolf Eichmann's trial, Israel Media report. Hadad warned that the schedule would force work on Shabbat and holidays and delay the verdict beyond March 2028, when the presiding judge is set to retire.
In court Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's defense attorney Amit Hadad escalated his objection to the five-day-a-week trial schedule by warning the judges that the accelerated pace will delay the verdict beyond March 2028 — the retirement date of presiding Judge Rivka Friedman-Feldman. Hadad made the argument at a hearing at the Jerusalem District Court, where Netanyahu himself appeared to voice opposition to the schedule, as The Zioneer reported earlier Monday (09:51 Jerusalem). The defense's argument anchors its objection to the timeline in the judge's upcoming departure, framing the push for speed as potentially self-defeating.
This is the latest development in a rapid sequence of court appearances. At 09:51 Jerusalem, The Zioneer published the first version of the story, reporting that Hadad had argued the five-day schedule would force work on Shabbat and holidays. Within the same minute, subsequent reports showed Hadad comparing the proposed pace only to the Eichmann trial — a comparison Netanyahu nodded along to, according to reports. The same 09:51 threads documented Netanyahu's personal appearance to oppose the schedule and noted Likud activists gathering in support outside the courthouse. A separate Zioneer bulletin at 10:26 Jerusalem (same thread) had already summarized the defense's Eichmann trial comparison. In the current hearing, the defense added the specific warning about delaying the verdict past the judge's retirement.
The Eichmann trial, the only other Israeli proceeding noted to have run five days a week, proceeded in 1961–62 under extraordinary circumstances. The defense has also argued the proposed schedule would violate basic labor rules by forcing work on Shabbat and holidays, as The Zioneer reported in its earliest version at 09:51 Jerusalem.
What remains open: The court has not yet ruled on the defense's objection. The prosecution has not commented on the Eichmann comparison or the retirement-date argument. It is not yet clear whether the judges will accept the defense's timeline projection or adjust the schedule. The comparison itself — between a prime minister's corruption trial and the trial of a Nazi war criminal — may carry legal weight but also political and historical sensitivity, though the court has not addressed that aspect.
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
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