Netanyahu’s Trial Moved to Feb. 8

The Yerushalayim District Court on Monday announced that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s next hearing in his public corruption trial has been rescheduled to Feb. 8.

In an extraordinary turnaround, the court had ordered the postponement of Netanyahu’s trial on Friday – scheduled for Wednesday – citing the lockdown and the large number of necessary participants.

The order could potentially postpone the calling of witnesses to right before Election Day, or right after.

The order came less than 48 hours after the same court rejected Netanyahu’s request for postponing his Wednesday hearing.

The court had said that although the prosecution had amended the indictment, Netanyahu’s lawyers had a full year to study the original indictment and the changes were not significantly substantive, and the case could proceed.

It was unclear why the court changed its mind between Wednesday night and Friday, given that all of the new coronavirus limitations had been set by Wednesday night.

The prime minister’s trial was also postponed by two months from March to May during the first lockdown but was not postponed during the second one.