After years of stalling, Netanyahu will finally face a courtroom — and, just maybe, a reckoning

Columnist
Dan Perry
November 13, 2024

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is finally going to face the justice system he has put years of effort into dismantling. And it could prove the beginning of a long-overdue reckoning for a leader whose actions have deeply harmed Israel’s democracy and security.

In the five years since it became clear that he would face a corruption trial, Netanyahu has done everything in his power to mess with Israel’s court system. He has invented conspiracies; promoted so-called “reforms” to eviscerate judicial independence; and machinated delays in the case against him, with excuses that have included the COVID-19 pandemic and, most recently, his need to stay focused on managing a devastating war he stands widely accused of prolonging for political reasons.

But finally, a court has drawn the line, and it could be a watershed. On Wednesday, the Jerusalem District Court decided to reject the prime minister’s latest request for another 10-week delay of the requirement that he testify in his corruption trial, which formally began in May, 2020. He will finally take the stand the first week of December.

This departure from the court’s previous meekness regarding Netanyahu can hardly be overstated. It has allowed repeated delays in the trial, in which Netanyahu faces charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. The original sin comes from Israel’s Supreme Court, which prior to the trial’s onset in 2020 allowed Netanyahu to continue running for office despite the charges. That decision was far from a given; it was based on a loophole, and, at the time, registered as a legal and political earthquake.

It also, apparently, took into account Netanyahu’s promise to the court that he would not let his work of governance impede the trial. He also signed a deal not to involve himself in legal reforms. We’ve seen, since, just how hollow both pledges were: Netanyahu has cited his governmental responsibilities time and again to interfere with the trial, and caused a massive nationwide upheaval in response to his efforts to “reform” the judiciary by stripping it of much of its power.

Netanyahu has proved remarkably durable for a leader perpetually plagued by scandals that should have ended any politician’s career. But as he is finally made to face a courtroom, it’s possible — just possible — that the tide is about to turn.

Not that Netanyahu seems to think so. His indifference to the potential consequences of his actions was in plain evidence last week, when he fired Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, a respected general who was one of the few cabinet members with public support and a line to President Joe Biden’s administration. He replaced Gallant with Yisrael Katz, a career apparatchik who is understood to be a puppet. That this should occur in wartime is unconscionable.

But Netanyahu appears to believe himself above reproach, and doesn’t care. He was outraged by Gallant’s independence, most clearly expressed through his support for an end to the war in Gaza, and his opposition to efforts to pass a law formally exempting the Haredi community from military service. Netanyahu has made a career out of other people falling in line, the mark of a leader whose first interest is in avoiding accountability; Gallant’s refusal to do so doomed him.

Compounding Netanyahu’s recent challenges has been a series of personal scandals involving his staff, which have raised significant concerns about internal security and governance.

His chief of staff, Tzachi Braverman, is under investigation for allegedly blackmailing a senior Israel Defense Forces officer, reportedly threatening to release a sensitive video to coerce changes in official meeting records. And a spokesperson in the Prime Minister’s Office, Eli Feldstein, has been charged with leaking classified intelligence, potentially compromising national security and even jeopardizing efforts to free hostages held by Hamas.

Netanyahu has, predictably, dismissed these scandals as media fabrications intended to weaken the war effort, accusing the press of orchestrating a campaign to discredit him and his administration.

It’s the same old playbook, which Netanyahu has successfully used for years, never more bafflingly than since the debacle of Oct. 7, which in a normal world should have been career-ending.

Will his day in court finally help make that playbook irrelevant? When it comes to Netanyahu, there are no certainties. But for the millions of Israelis who are sick of his poor governance and relentless self-promotion, it’s an enormous relief that the court has finally issued a concrete reprieve to his transparent-yet-effective machinations. That shift offers a glimmer of hope that while Israel’s democratic institutions have been tested, they have not broken. Thus might begin a healing.

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