Court rejects Netanyahu’s call to postpone graft trial hearings

An Israeli court on Friday (June 27, 2025) rejected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s request to postpone giving testimony in his corruption trial, after U.S. President Donald Trump said the case should be cancelled.

Mr. Netanyahu’s lawyer on Thursday (June 26, 2025) asked the court to excuse the leader from hearings over the next two weeks, saying he needed to concentrate on “security issues” after Israel’s 12-day war with Iran.

The Jerusalem district court said in a judgement published online that “in its current form, (his request) does not provide a basis or detailed justification for the cancellation of the hearings”.

Mr. Netanyahu’s lawyer, Amit Hadad, promptly submitted a fresh request for the next two weeks’ hearings to be scrapped, in a filing seen by AFP.

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He said he had submitted Mr. Netanyahu’s schedule to the court to demonstrate “the national need for the Prime Minister to devote all his time and energy to the political, national and security issues at hand”.

Mr. Trump on Wednesday described the case against Mr. Netanyahu as a “witch hunt”, saying the trial “should be CANCELLED, IMMEDIATELY, or a Pardon given to a Great Hero”.

Mr. Netanyahu has thanked Mr. Trump for his support in Israel’s brief war against Iran, which ended with a ceasefire on June 24.

Mr. Netanyahu has denied any wrongdoing and his supporters have described the long-running trial as politically motivated.

In a first case, he and his wife, Sara, are accused of accepting more than $260,000 worth of luxury goods such as cigars, jewellery and champagne from billionaires in exchange for political favours.

In two other cases, Netanyahu is accused of attempting to negotiate more favourable coverage from two Israeli media outlets.

During his current term, which started in late 2022, Netanyahu’s government has proposed a series of far-reaching judicial reforms that critics say were designed to weaken the courts.

Mr. Netanyahu has requested multiple postponements in the trial since it began in May 2020, citing the war in Gaza which started in 2023, later fighting in Lebanon and this month the conflict with Iran.