Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared before the Tel Aviv District Court on Tuesday (April 28) for the 81st time since his trial began in 2020, to complete his response to corruption charges against him in the files known in the media as "Files 1000, 2000 and 4000".
This is his first appearance before the court in about two months, since the outbreak of the war with Iran on February 28 , and Netanyahu was scheduled to appear in court on Monday, but he requested that the session be canceled citing "security reasons," before holding a series of consultations related to the war on Lebanon.
The Maariv newspaper said that Netanyahu is in the "final stage" of his testimony, after testifying over the course of 80 days of hearings, noting that the Public Prosecutor's Office estimates that he has about 11 more days of testimony, followed by a short questioning by the defense team.
The newspaper added that Netanyahu's hearings have been canceled over the past two weeks at his request, and that he has not testified since the start of the war on Iran, despite the resumption of all court hearings in Israel.
Internal division over the pardon request
The court hearings continue amid division within Israel over Netanyahu's request for a pardon from President Isaac Herzog. On November 30 , Netanyahu asked for a pardon for the charges against him, without pleading guilty or retiring from political life, which has sparked widespread controversy, especially since Israeli law allows pardons to be granted only after pleading guilty.
A poll published on Tuesday showed that 56% of respondents support US President Donald Trump pressuring Herzog to pardon Netanyahu, while 26% oppose this approach, and 18% prefer not to express a specific opinion.
57% of Israelis: We have lost all our wars after 2023
In another context, an opinion poll published by the Israel Broadcasting Corporation showed that 57 percent of Israelis believe that Israel has not achieved any military victory since October 7 , 2023, despite fighting wars in Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran, in addition to attacks in Yemen and Syria, and military operations in the West Bank.
According to the commission, only 28 percent believe that Israel has won in "at least one arena," while 15 percent answered that they "don't know."
The percentage of those optimistic about victory declined on various fronts, as it did not exceed 17 percent in Syria, 16 percent in Gaza and Iran, 14 percent in Lebanon, 12 percent in Yemen, and 11 percent in the West Bank.
Seventy-three percent of respondents were convinced that Hamas and Hezbollah remained armed posed a "direct threat" of a repeat of an attack similar to October 7, compared to 10 percent who ruled it out.
Israeli military leaders: We have fallen into the "drone trap"
Senior Israeli military officials have acknowledged that the army entered the war in Lebanon without having the tools to deal with the drone threat used by Hezbollah, stressing that combat units on the ground are suffering from "severe frustration" due to this escalating threat.
Israeli Army Radio said the daily drone attacks had led to repeated injuries to soldiers, including serious injuries, in addition to the death of at least one soldier in recent days.
The radio quoted military officials as saying that the threat of drones had become a "major operational challenge" and that in some locations the army had begun to use rudimentary means such as deploying nets over positions and houses to intercept the drones, in a move that officers described as an "improvised and inadequate response".
The Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported that the army is facing a "tactical challenge that has not yet been resolved," referring to the killing of Sergeant Idan Fuchs last Sunday in a drone bomb attack near the village of Taybeh in southern Lebanon.
The radio pointed out that the army had a long time to prepare for this kind of threat, especially after the heavy use of drones in the Russia-Ukraine war, and after the October 7 attack in which Hamas used drones that disrupted sighting and firing systems on the Gaza border.