PM for the first time in his Twitter account referred to the first hearing in his court cases in the District Court • Another wrote: "An attempt to overthrow us, the national camp, using stitched cases" • Earlier, the PM refused to sit on the accused's bench until the photographers left
"Attempting to thwart the will of the people": Prime Minister Netanyahu addressed his Twitter account in a first response to a hearing in Jerusalem District Court on Sunday regarding his legal cases and charges for bribery, fraud and breach of trust.
Netanyahu wrote: "What is at stake today is the attempt to thwart the will of the people: to overthrow us, the national camp, through stitched cases. With your help and with God, I will continue to fight. The State of Israel is my life mission and I will continue to protect you and you more. And keep you safe. "
The next hearing about his files for almost another two months - July 19 at 9 am.
Netanyahu in a special statement in his trial // Photo: Reuters
Earlier, many MKs from the Likud arrived in court and stood by Netanyahu while making a special statement before entering the courtroom. Among those present were Minister Miri Regev, Minister Yoav Galant, Minister Amir Ohana, MK Tzahi Hanegbi and MK Nir Barkat.
In the special statement, Netanyahu said: "The media representatives want to photograph me as part of the 'Just not Bibi' campaign, I want the public to see the whole picture and to tell the whole truth. The public needs to hear everything and not through the prosecutor's court papers, so my first request from the court is to allow Broadcasting my life throughout the trial. "
Netanyahu further read: "Immediately publish the document sent by the Justice Department to the State Comptroller. I demand to publish the transcripts of the investigations used by delinquent measures with the aim of ousting witnesses who will incriminate me with false testimony."
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During the speech, he spoke about one of the major media outlets on whom seemingly improper measures were used, claiming: "Tell him if you do not give us what we want against Netanyahu we will destroy your family."
Netanyahu continued: "How did the Attorney General know about all these improper measures and signed this unfounded indictment? Does he have anything to hide? Is this something hidden in a Justice Department safe? So I demand here and now to publish all the tapes. My life's mission and I will keep it. Thank you so much for your tremendous support, "he said at the conclusion.
When he entered the courtroom, Netanyahu waited until the last of the photographers and only then sat down. After the judges entered the court, Judge Rebecca Feldman asked each of the defendants' attorneys about one in turn, whether they read and understood the indictment and all approved.
Attorney Micah Patman, who represents Prime Minister Netanyahu, said at the outset: "The investigation materials are divided into several heads. The first head is the core of the investigative materials received. There are over 30,000 pages in the 4000 file and in the 1000 and 2000 files there are huge quantities of material. "
"Other offices have spent two months just for this point. We receive large amounts of transcripts, video and audio. We all know that one word that was transcribed incorrectly makes the difference, but there are also materials we haven't received yet. What's more, your honor, the representation of the prime minister has not been finalized "We are waiting for the permit committee's decision and it has implications for the scope of representation because we want to add more lawyers."
Attorney Jacques Chen represents Shaul Eloovic: "We do not know the material and we want to present the court the real picture to give him the tools to decide. We received all investigative materials during March in 3 acts and during April. Today we are supposed to get a final shipment which is a huge amount of video and audio, mainly of investigations. "
"This is a multidimensional material in a huge case. The indictment was filed at the end of January, but you should know that the investigative material was not received immediately despite our inquiries, but only as of March." To these things, Plaintiff responded to Liat Ben Ari and asked "Why?" I sent a letter two days after the indictment, was not answered and we were not told the reason. "
Judge Oded Shaham said: "Twenty-four years ago I was a member of a lawyer representing Mr. Moses in a civil trial in Tel Aviv. We have not been in contact since, so there is no grounds for disqualification in my opinion. My master had 3 months to go over the material."
Netanyahu enters courtroom to open trial // Photo: Reuters
Attorney Patman responded: "We need another 3 months and from that stage another two months to answer the indictment. Evaluating members that they may be ready for the end of January. We will have to request another two months because some of the team has not yet been recruited due to the circumstances. These are assessments not for the sake of time but for realistic assessments to give a serious and respectful representation to the prime minister. "
Justice Feldman continued: "I understand that for you the representation was settled" and Attorney Chen responded: "Indeed. There are some significant points that will shorten the duration. We would like to know from the prosecution what order of discharge will be provided in the proofs. The second thing is about the expected witness order - if we accept it as the witness order and the documents that the prosecution seeks to present it will greatly help us to prepare and we can see if agreements can be reached or waived.
It's a criminal trial so there are no games or surprises. Another important application to ensure due process. On Thursday, three or four key prosecution witnesses were interviewed in a TV show case. There was no such thing yet. "
"We have come to work. We want the trial to be conducted between the courts of this court. We cannot and we think the court will not agree and will not allow him to compete with the court. I am sure that the prosecution shares our position that it is not good for the witnesses to be interviewed and hope that in this matter we will not have to confront the prosecution." , Chen concluded.
Attorney Michal Rosen-Ezar's defense attorney Iris Alovic: "We have not come to pause but to do the work and also to face the difficulties we are facing. It takes real time to work. It's not a rope game. Part of the public interest is also the right to due process.
"What characterizes this case is that it is a very muscular bag in the sense that it has no fats and therefore there is a lot of material that needs to be learned and recognized. They won this title. "
Adv. Noyat Negev representing Yedioth Ahronoth publisher Arnon (Noni) Moses: "The 2000 file is more limited and limited. We received notice from the prosecution that all the material in the three cases is relevant, but the material is limited in relation to the 4000 file. Specifically, portfolio 4000, so in fact we are now required to study the extra material. "
After this, Prime Minister Netanyahu's defense team changed and Adv. Amit Haddad said at the opening: "I heard the discussion. In one sentence, I heard that they were trying to talk about discharges as if they were separate and not related to each other. These episodes have a certain sequence. Want to come and think that we start with 1000 and then 4000, but that's not true. All files must be studied as one piece. That's why time is critical here. "
Prosecuting Attorney, Liat Ben Ari, Adv. This is also what I replied to attorney Jacques Chen. Immediately after the indictment we were contacted to receive the material. We offered the defendants 2 options - come and photograph the material or take the material scanned at no additional cost. All the defendants chose the second option.
We go above and beyond to help with all of these issues. Defense attorneys also call us all the time. We both take time to look for us and if you wake up in the middle of the night, it is not certain that every memorandum and memorandum will recognize this is the nature of things in such files. "
The prosecution objected to the defense's request to postpone the evidence
Prosecutor Ben Ari continued her remarks, referring to the schedule: "We are one and two months after the investigation material has been transferred. Amit Haddad has been throughout. To him and the court will cut back deadlines for preliminary allegations and answer to the indictment. Of course, we will remind prosecution witnesses that they must not speak or be interviewed and I sincerely hope that things do not happen again. "
Responding to the comments, Saul Elovich's lawyer said: "It has no dawn. Defense attorneys do not automatically want to apply and the prosecution wants to go faster. We are not in this world. We come with very conservative estimates. A due process that depends on providing enough tools for the defendants to defend is part of the public interest that Alat herself must uphold. "
At the conclusion of the hearing, the parties agreed that no physical presence of the defendants was required throughout the trial. Judge Feldman turned to the delegates and asked: "Can attorneys be satisfied or do you want everyone's presence?"
Attorney Chen replied: "Absolutely yes," and Attorney Patman reinforced his remarks, saying: "A prime minister has said in the past that he will respect any court decision. If we give up the defendants' presence, we will minimize the media circus and we can be relevant."
