Court Nixes Delay for PM, But Demands AG Docs

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu‏‏’s latest bid to delay his trial was refused by the Yerushalayim District Court on Wednesday, granting his defense lawyers no additional time in which to study clarifications made recently to the indictments.

However, the court did order Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit to submit “without delay” documents proving he had authorized opening a criminal investigation into the premier. While he admitted that prior authorization had been given only verbally, those verbal instructions had been taken down in writing, and it was presumably those notes the court was seeking.

Netanyahu’s lawyers have asserted that written authorization was required to open a probe of a prime minister; but Mandelblit told the court it doesn’t have to be in writing.

The court did not rule on whether the prior authorization had to have been in writing. Its request for the records that Mandelblit referred to may be acceptable, but they must be produced.

The state can redact confidential information, the ruling said.