Israel’s attorney general tells court to reject Netanyahu request to postpone trial

Mandelblit told the court he opposed giving Netanyahu a postponement.

By World Israel News Staff

In a letter sent on Monday to the Jerusalem District Court, Israel’s Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit said he opposed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s request for a postponement of his trial, which is set to start March 17.

On Sunday, Netanyahu asked for a 45-day postponement. His attorney said it was for technical reasons and in order to give more time to receive materials from the prosecution’s office requested months ago, The Jerusalem Post reported.

Mandelblit said in the letter that it was necessary to hold the March 17 hearing precisely to resolve such issues.

Mandelblit announced he would indict Netanyahu in three corruption cases on Nov. 21, 2019. The cases are labeled 1,000, 2000 and 4,000.

Case 1000 centers on allegations that the Netanyahu family received hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of cigars, champagne and other expensive gifts from wealthy supporters, possibly in exchange for favors from Netanyahu.

Case 2000 involves Netanyahu and Yediot Aharonot owner Anon Moses, who allegedly made a pact in which the prime minister proposed to use his power to weaken the paper’s main rival, Israel Hayom through a law curbing Israel Hayom’s distribution in return for Yediot giving the prime minister more positive coverage.

Case 4000 centers on the suspicion that as owner of Walla! News, Shaul Elovitch pressured his CEO, Ilan Yeshua, to arrange positive coverage of Netanyahu in exchange for the prime minister working to advance regulations that would benefit Elovitch in his role as Bezeq’s main shareholder.

Sara Netanyahu is alleged to have pressured Elovitch’s wife, Iris, regarding the news coverage.