The Jerusalem District Court cancelled this week's hearings in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's long-running corruption trial, accepting a request the Israeli leader made citing classified diplomatic and security grounds.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a statement during a visit to the site of the Weizmann Institute of Science, which was hit by an Iranian missile barrage, in the central city of Rehovot, Israel June 20, 2025. Jack Guez/Reuters
The Jerusalem District Court cancelled this week's hearings in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's long-running corruption trial, accepting a request the Israeli leader made citing classified diplomatic and security grounds.
It was unclear whether a social media post by U.S. President Donald Trump influenced the court's decision. Trump suggested the trial could interfere with Netanyahu’s ability to join negotiations with the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Iran.
The ruling, seen by Reuters, said that new reasons provided by Netanyahu, the head of Israel's spy agency Mossad and the military intelligence chief justified cancelling the hearings.
Netanyahu was indicted in 2019 on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust - all of which he denies. He has cast the trial against him as an orchestrated left-wing witch-hunt meant to topple a democratically elected right-wing leader.
On Friday, the court rejected a request by Netanyahu to delay his testimony for the next two weeks because of diplomatic and security matters following the 12-day conflict between Israel and Iran, which ended last Tuesday.
He was due to take the stand on Monday for cross-examination.
"It is INSANITY doing what the out-of-control prosecutors are doing to Bibi Netanyahu," Trump said in a Truth Social post. He said Washington, having given billions of dollars worth of aid to Israel, was not going to "stand for this".
A spokesperson for the Israeli prosecution declined to comment on Trump's post. Netanyahu on X retweeted Trump's post and added: "Thank you again, @realDonaldTrump. Together, we will make the Middle East Great Again!"
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On Friday, the Republican president told reporters he believed a ceasefire was close.
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