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February 10th, 2021 
Awake Goy 
(The Media Line) — Jerusalem’s district courthouse, normally a quiet, rather forgotten building on a side street near the capital’s city center, was jam-packed early Monday morning as hundreds of protesters, bodyguards, reporters, and lawyers, along with one lone prime minister, arrived at the court steps.
Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, currently running for a fifth time in office, arrived for another court appearance, just his second since his trial over charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust began in May of last year.
After having his indictment read out to him, Netanyahu, as expected, pleaded not guilty, saying simply, “I confirm the written answer submitted in my name,” referring to the document filed earlier by his attorneys.
Then, approximately 20 minutes into the session and after receiving the judges’ permission, the prime minister abruptly left the chamber.
Netanyahu is accused of accepting lavish gifts and handing regulatory favors worth hundreds of millions of dollars to communications and media moguls in return for favorable news coverage in a number of Israeli outlets. If convicted, he could face up to 10 years in prison.
Outside, still oblivious to Netanyahu’s departure, the many dozens of protesters who had gathered early Monday morning continued to chant, sing and whistle, demanding that the judges serve justice and that Netanyahu to step down.
“I’ve come from Tel Aviv, to make sure he stands trial just like any other citizen in this country,” Pnina, a 56-year-old protester, told The Media Line of the prime minister.
“He’ll do anything to delay and cancel this whole thing, and we can’t let him. He’s rotten from the core.”
Demonstrators and spectators outside the courthouse were watched by a heavy police presence whose job included separating the anti-Netanyahu rally from the prime minister’s supporters.
“He’ll do anything to delay and cancel this whole thing, and we can’t let him. He’s rotten from the core.”
On Sunday, Netanyahu called on his backers not to arrive in person in the Jerusalem district court due to coronavirus concerns, noting that the “fraudulent, crooked” case against him and the “sham trial,” which he has consistently blamed on corrupt cops and deceitful prosecutors, was “already falling apart.”
Yet the prime minister, while promising for months to beat the accusations in court and prove his innocence, has done all he can to delay or altogether terminate the trial.
Last year, Netanyahu requested that parliament award him procedural immunity, only to later wave it after concluding that he did not have the required majority. Over the past two years, as Israel has held three general elections and is about to hold the fourth amid an unprecedented political deadlock, the prime minister decried his indictment, pretrial hearing and first court appearance as blatant political interference by the nation’s justice system, demanding the entire procedure be suspended until a government is formed.
On Sunday, Netanyahu’s top confidant, Knesset Chairman Yariv Levin, echoed these charges, calling on the judges to postpone their sessions until after the March 23 election.
“He caused all this. Why do you think there hasn’t been a stable government ever since? He created this mess; he needs it to escape.”
“Of course that’s what they want. [Netanyahu] called an early election [in April 2019] just so that he could say he was indicted during an election,” Eitan, another demonstrator standing outside the court Monday, told The Media Line.
“He caused all this. Why do you think there hasn’t been a stable government ever since? He created this mess; he needs it to escape.”
After their client had already left, Netanyahu’s attorneys on Monday requested that the court hold off on scheduling the next trial date “at least by three to four months.”
As the trial enters its witness testimony phase, judges are expected in the coming days to publish their decision on the coming months’ schedule, including how many times a week the sides will meet.
While he fights to stay out of jail, Israel’s embattled prime minister is simultaneously trying to combat the ongoing health and economic crises while fending off a handful of challengers in the elections, just over 40 days away.
“It’s obviously not illegal but definitely unprecedented,” Prof. Gad Barzilay, former Law Faculty dean at Haifa University, said of the bizarrely intertwined political and judicial courses.
As for whether the trial might harm Netanyahu’s performance at the polls, Barzilay pointed to the Supreme Court’s recent ruling that an indicted lawmaker could still form a government.
“That should assuage any concerns voters have in that regard, but it’s impossible to tell” what political fallout the proceedings may have, he said.
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