Abdel Raouf Arnaout
05 May 2026•Update: 05 May 2026
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared Tuesday before the central court in Tel Aviv for the 83rd time since his trial began, to respond to corruption charges after a delay linked to his “urgent political and security schedule.”
Netanyahu faces bribery, fraud and breach of trust charges in three cases that could lead to prison if he is convicted. The indictment was filed by the attorney general in late November 2019.
Public broadcaster KAN said Netanyahu was scheduled to testify for about three hours after requesting the session not be held in the morning “due to an urgent political and security schedule," without elaborating.
Earlier Tuesday, Netanyahu sought to cancel the hearing, citing developments related to Iran, but the court rejected the request and instead agreed to delay and shorten the session, according to the broadcaster.
The army announced its readiness Monday for a possible renewal of war with Iran after the United Arab Emirates was subjected to Iranian attacks with missiles and drones, resulting in three injuries, according to a statement from the UAE Ministry of Defense.
Judges had canceled Monday’s session at Netanyahu’s request and partially approved his request to modify Tuesday’s hearing, ruling it would proceed for several hours, KAN added.
Netanyahu has denied wrongdoing since his trial began in 2020. Israeli law does not allow a presidential pardon without an admission of guilt.
The cases, known as “1000,” “2000” and “4000,” center on allegations that Netanyahu received valuable gifts from wealthy businessmen in exchange for favors, sought favorable media coverage from a newspaper publisher and granted regulatory benefits to a telecommunications executive in return for positive coverage on a news website.
In addition to the domestic corruption trial, Netanyahu has been wanted since 2024 by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip.
* Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul
