If the whole world is a stage, then the world of law is the stage of the National Theater. Every theater actor, wrote Rabbi Yaakov Halevi, of Jerusalem, is familiar with the phenomenon: if, God forbid, in the middle of the play, a cat comes on stage and crosses the stage with a hesitant step and frightened eyes, the audience will forget about the play and turn its full attention to that poor cat.
And it doesn't matter who stands on stage: Sir John Gielgud or Hannah Rubina. The cat will win. Why will the cat win? Surely he doesn't even have a single line of text and not a grain of talent? Probably because the scene he presents at that moment, however confused, is a real, living, breathing scene. It is innocent, and more touching than all the monologues and gestas in the world. Such a mouse, quite fat and with a presence, ran around the small courtroom of the Brighton courthouse yesterday.
"Bizarre event", Adv. Haddad (archive), photo: Jonathan Zindel/Flash90
This is how it was described in the exchange between Netanyahu's defense attorney and the prosecutor: Haddad: "Is it written here about how much they consumed at the events? Where is it written? A serious thing happened here." Attorney Ben Ari: "Oh yo yo" (disrespectfully). Attorney Haddad: "That it will be recorded in the protocol of this rather bizarre event." Then the main witness, Arnon Milchan, couldn't help himself: "It's a movie. No, it's already a series."
Milchan, he says, and unlike his counterpart, the Israeli prime minister, may not be the world's greatest expert on cigars and champagne. But in the movies he understands. And more how. He realized that these scenes were already a wonderful basis for an entire series. Netflix will still make millions out of it.
As in previous cases, at the end of the first day of testimony, it is still too early to know whether Milchan delivered the goods to the prosecution, as she had hoped, or actually strengthened the defense's argument. But what is clear is that the well-known benefactor established a regular supply line of cigars, shirts and champagne. On land, in the air and at sea. In Jerusalem, Caesarea, Beit Yanai and London.
First day of Milchan's testimony: Netanyahu enters court Credit: Reuters
Like a great producer, Milchan was not satisfied with merchandise, but also enriched the dictionary of images with his testimony. What didn't we have there, in the paradise of testimony? Leaves and a title, "pink", and even a Bugs Bunny doll that functioned as the rabbit that was pulled out of the benefactor's hat in favor of the magician's son.
But will all this, however picturesque, be enough for a conviction? It's still too early to tell. Despite the ongoing spins, on either side, what will ultimately determine the ability to convict "beyond a reasonable doubt" is not only quantity but also, and most importantly, quality. And not only of the cigars and champagnes.
The prosecution tries to show that in this case the quantity not only creates a bad aroma that wafts from the cigars, both from a public perspective and from a moral and moral point of view, but amounts to bribery, which goes beyond just friendly relations, even in the upper echelon.
Benjamin Netanyahu (Archive), photo: Amit Shabi
The defense, for its part, insists on reducing the quantities and insists on its approach that, despite everything, the quantity does not amount to a conviction for criminal bribery. This question, as well as the question of whether and what Milchan received in return for the generous gift, even though it is not essential for a conviction (according to the law, the mere act of waiting is sufficient), will be evaluated on the basis of the totality of the evidence and contexts, and not from one anecdote or another, however juicy.
As in the past, we will therefore have to wait, and with great suspense, for the next episodes in the series. Don't go nowhere. We went out for commercials and spins, but will immediately return.
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