The judges presiding over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's corruption trial issued a sharp rebuke to his defense team on Tuesday, demanding explanations for the failure to prepare alternative witnesses after former Knesset member Eitan Cabel became unavailable to testify.
Judge Oded Shaham declared bluntly: "You can't run a trial this way." Judge Rivka Friedman-Feldman added: "The defense's notice period, one week in advance, is far too short. Especially given the fact that if that witness cannot appear, you don't prepare another witness."
She also addressed the controversial summons of former Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, saying: "Now we're hearing that perhaps even the dates you set for Mandelblit don't suit him either."
