The three-judge panel presiding over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's corruption trial delivered a dramatic legal blow to the prosecution Monday, signaling in unambiguous terms that they believe the bribery charge against the prime minister in the Bezeq-Walla affair should be dropped.
In a short, pointed official statement issued after the conclusion of Netanyahu's testimony on the witness stand, the judges declared: "After hearing the testimony of the prime minister, our position as it was in June 2023 remains unchanged."
The significance of that sentence cannot be overstated. In June 2023, the judges held a closed, informal meeting in chambers with representatives of both the prosecution and defense, in which they made clear to prosecutors that they saw a serious evidentiary problem with the bribery count in Case 4000, and that they considered the charge unlikely to be proven. They recommended at that time that the prosecution withdraw the most serious allegation against Netanyahu. That recommendation was flatly rejected by then-Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and the State Attorney's office.
Monday's statement means that Netanyahu's lengthy testimony from the dock, which prosecutors had hoped would either fortify their case or expose holes in his account, did neither. In the judges' telling, it only hardened their original view: the bribery charge does not hold water.
The announcement is a severe professional blow to the prosecution's central legal theory, which has driven the case for years. The bribery count, alleging that Netanyahu provided regulatory benefits to the Bezeq telecommunications company in exchange for favorable coverage on the Walla news site, carries the highest criminal and moral weight of all the allegations against him. It is the charge prosecutors built their flagship case around.
For Netanyahu's defense team, the judges' statement amounts to a dramatic vindication, placing a giant question mark over whether the trial can or should continue in its current form.
