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It is expected that the counter -interrogation of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will begin his trial on charges of corruption after the end of his main testimony, and the court has set his degree sessions to be 14.
The Classet newspaper said that Netanyahu’s trial judges are tired of wasting time, after Netanyahu’s testimony continued to trial for a long time much longer than preliminary estimates, and that it is expected to continue according to the accounts of the time necessary for listening and delay sessions until mid -2026.
The counter -interrogation is a legal procedure in which the prosecution is interrogating the accused, and in this case Netanyahu, after he had testified before the court.
This interrogation aims to reveal the contradictions or gaps in the sayings of the accused, and may weaken his defense and strengthen the position of prosecution. In the case of Netanyahu, this stage is seen as “the most dangerous and unexpected” in the trial.
Observers are generally wondering if the counter -interrogation will prevent a deal to acknowledge the guilt that was presented to Netanyahu 3 years ago, which Israeli President Isaac Herzog has hinted during the past days, according to which Netanyahu comes out of political life without being imprisoned.
Corruption issues
Netanyahu faces accusations in 3 corruption cases known for the files of “1000”, “2000” and “4000” related to bribery, fraud and betrayal of trust, and he was charged with official indictment from the government’s legal advisor at the time, Avichai Mendelblit in November 2019.
Netanyahu, who, expressed his defense team, has succeeded in prolonging the court period that started in January 2020 several times, and in postponing hearings of his testimony and not attending the court.
According to the statement submitted by the Shin Bur President Ronin Bar to the Supreme Court on April 21, Netanyahu asked him to inform the judges that the Prime Minister should not testify before the court regarding corruption charges for security reasons.
The “Times of Israel” newspaper reported that Netanyahu sought to postpone his trial on corruption charges indefinitely, claiming that there are concerns about the Lebanese Hezbollah attacks on the court in Jerusalem.
Netanyahu’s testimony was transferred to the Central Court in Tel Aviv, amid strict guarding, and he was supposed to submit his personal certificate 3 times a week, but he worked to reduce it twice, in addition to postponing the sessions, with allegations related to performing his duties against the background of the complex security and political reality.
Additional interrogation
According to Yedioth Ahranot newspaper, Netanyahu’s main certificate will end next Wednesday, Two days later, the counter -interrogation will begin, and it is expected that it will take from 9 to 14 months, and it may extend until mid -2026, and the claim will be interrogated by Netanyahu with the aim of revealing the contradictions he mentioned in his testimonies and undermining his credibility.
Political analyst Anna Brasky – in an article in the Maariv newspaper – indicated that counter -interrogation is a very sensitive stage in any trial, and prominent defendants often fall, even those who are described as cunning or legal intelligence, as these risks recently appeared in many discussions among those close to Netanyahu.
Brasky explained that the refusal of Netanyahu’s submission to this stage of the trial presented scenarios to delay it, including the intensification of the war in Gaza and the presentation of the elections.
On the other hand, there are other groups, which are still very optimistic, and continue to encourage the Prime Minister to not retreat and move forward in his trial until the end, and they are convinced that the end can only be one “the collapse of the trial, the return of the case, and a complete victory for Netanyahu.”
The counter -interrogation will be in 3 stages:
- The interrogation of the former owner of the owner of Bezik and the website Walaa Shaul Illovic for a period of 3 days, and is considered a pivotal figure in “Case 4000” in which the couple is accused by Illovic, along with Netanyahu, of bribery and obstruction of justice.
- Iris’s defense agency, Irovic’s wife, for a day or two, is involved with her husband – in addition to Netanyahu – by bribery and obstruction of justice in case 4000.
- Investigations by the Public Prosecution, which announced that its counter -interrogation will take 3 times the duration of the certificate presented by Netanyahu, which lasted for about 6 months, which indicates that this stage of the trial may continue until mid -2026.
Challenges in the face of the prosecution
In exchange for the counter -interrogation stages, the channel’s website mentioned 12 several challenges that the Public Prosecution is expected to face, including:
- Maintaining the continuity of the certificate: Especially in light of possible requests to obtain rest periods due to the government affairs management, which was abundant during Netanyahu’s testimony.
- Dealing with dodging answers: Like “I do not remember” or “I don’t know.”
- Determining contradictions and logical in the testimonyIn order to undermine Netanyahu’s credibility.
That is why “Netanyahu’s political fate in addition to the fate of the Likud and its allies will be on the palm of the impact,” according to the specialist in Israeli affairs, Esmat Mansour.
Mansour adds that the counter -interrogation is a public investigation, a narration in exchange for a novel, and a scrutiny in every small and large in the corruption files accused of it, and this constitutes a great concern for Netanyahu that he will not come out of this file in a better position, so he will seek to search for a claim of a claim to avoid the decision of a ruling he condemns, and his political future ends with a humiliating way.
Falling in the opposite interrogation will end with the trial procedures, and only the final pleading will remain for both the defense and the prosecution, and there will be no maneuvering papers before Netanyahu and his lawyer except waiting for the court’s decision to be sentenced to prison, according to all expectations in corruption cases and bribery attributed to him.
Acknowledgment of guilt
A few days ago, the Israeli President called for a study of the possibility of concluding a guilt admission with Netanyahu, according to which he comes out of political life without being imprisoned, and indicated that such a deal may be in the interest of Israel to avoid more divisions.
Herzog’s talk about the prosecution deal comes after its failure to reach it in 2022, when the talks collapsed due to Netanyahu’s refusal to recognize the “moral shame” that is forced to leave political life for a long time.
The proposal for the confession of guilt – which was previously discussed – included Netanyahu’s recognition of the crime of breach of trust, while giving up the charge of bribery, in exchange for his retirement from political life. The government’s judicial advisor, Ghali Baharav Mayra, explained that such an arrangement will be conditional on the full withdrawal of Netanyahu from the public square.
In light of this controversy, the analyst Brasky indicated that the conversation in the vicinity of Netanyahu was recently said about the deal of guilt in exchange for his exit from political life without pushing it into prison, stressing that Netanyahu must make the decision “before it is too late.”
The Ma’ariv newspaper, according to the supporters of the deal, quoted Netanyahu’s footnote – that when the counter -interrogation begins, it will be impossible to reach a guilt.
They suggested that the prosecution be “rude with the prime minister, and they will ask him for provocative questions, who will claim that he is lying, and they will try to catch and thwart it, and there will be a campaign that eliminates the option of acknowledgment of guilt.”
International deal
The specialist in Israeli affairs, Firas Yaghi, did not rule out an international deal by the American administration, during which a judicial deal is reached with Netanyahu to retire from his political life without being imprisoned, in exchange for not disturbing the American plan in the region, and the region was not involved in major wars.
On the other hand, analyst Mansour believes that despite the possibility that Netanyahu ventures to go to the counter -interrogation, he will seek to seize the appropriate time to reach a deal with the claim, the conditions are different from what he offered from a previous deal, especially what is linked to the moral shame that prevents him from returning to the political circuit.
Mansour said that this may be an opportunity that will not be repeated, in light of the narrow options in front of Netanyahu and a severe decline in the possibility of returning to rule in a complete right -wing government, which is almost non -existent in the near future.
He suggested that President Herzog, political elites, and the deep state want to get rid of Netanyahu. “If the deal will save them from them, they will agree to cancel the whole judicial path and even relinquish his conviction in exchange for getting rid of him.”
Bet on time
Netanyahu is working to prolong his trial period to exploit the internal and external conditions that are emerging to tilted the cuff for a suitable court, and hopes to change laws through the judicial coup by the approval of the “excuse” law that limits the possibility of isolating the prime minister from his position, except with the approval of 75% of the ministers or 80 Knesset members, and the law also prevents the Supreme Court from considering the petitions that demand the isolation of the Prime Minister, which restricts the role of the judiciary in this regard.
Netanyahu and his allies have succeeded in passing the law of the Judges Selection Committee and the Commissioner for Judges, and they are seeking to dismiss the judicial advisor, but that will need a series that is not short of legal procedures.
It is in these endeavors, the approval of the Ministerial Committee for Legislative Affairs – last Sunday – the law of separating the position of legal advice from the position of public prosecution in the Office of the Legal Chancellor, and the judicial advisor Mayra expressed her opposition to the law and warned of serious concern that the proposal and his timing aim to influence the Netanyahu trial, as well as other ongoing criminal procedures.
On the other hand, Brasky notes in her article that the circumstances have become different in light of the “endless state of war on the horizon, and at the height of disagreement, division and despair, it is no longer limited to Netanyahu opponents, but that many of his supporters are convinced that he is the source of the division, and for that alone he must leave.”
The expert Yaghi believes that despite the deterioration of the great confidence of Bentianao within Israeli society, he is still Prime Minister of a stable right coalition consisting of 68 seats and has at least sweeping support in the right.
He added that Netanyahu has a third option other than “acknowledging guilt or being imprisoned, which is to continue to head the current government until the end of its mandate in December 2026, in addition to exploiting the security circumstance to maneuver and postpone and get rid of the charges against it, especially if it has achieved strategic achievements for Israel.”
Yaghi said that he is betting on making a major strategic geopolitical change in the region, not at the level of the dismantling of Syria, the defeat of Hezbollah or the full control of Gaza, but rather at the level of hitting Iran.
He explained that Netanyahu believes that hitting Iran is the most prominent change that will enable him to market himself in front of the Israeli internal opinion, which will contribute to his re -election again as prime minister, and the greater parliamentary immunity that he will enjoy based on the law of not being impossible to protect him from reaching the deal of guilt.
Options and consequences
Despite the approaching counter -interrogation, in which the public prosecution will be the spearhead against Netanyahu, the latter “will seek to benefit from the witness platform to direct his messages to his right -wing electoral base as a victim of a conspiracy from the opposition and the deep state, and the leftists who prevent it from reaching the absolute victory, according to the expert Mansour.
The counter -interrogation may be an adventure that may be unaccounted to Netanyahu, and it will have a major impact not on his person but on the Likud party that he heads, which will take the internal introductory elections step next November.
On the other hand, the continuation of the end of Netanyahu’s trial procedures, and the fight against counter -interrogation maze, despite all the prices that legal experts warn, will make access to the final ruling decision in corruption cases.
Yaghi comments that talking about Netanyahu’s going to prison or the permissibility of guilt is premature, because it is defeated by the stable right, and is betting on changing the laws within the Knesset, and on the application of the Prime Minister’s immunization law and the “impossibility” that the Supreme Court approved in January 2024 to postpone its application to the next Knesset session. Netanyahu may win the elections, and this will fortify him from isolation, deportation and imprisonment.