On the 24^th of May 2020, the day after the Sabbath, the trial of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Bibi for his friends) started in the Jerusalem District Court, after a long period of delays, backstage negotiations, incendiary statements and uncertainty. The one who indicted Netanyahu was Avichai Mandelblit, the Attorney General appointed by the Prime Minister himself.

Jerusalem District Court

The suspicions surrounding the Prime Minister can be classified into three main categories – bribery, fraud and breach of trust. In other words, they are: receiving gifts valued at almost 560,000 Euros and favourable media coverage, in exchange for financial or personal favours to media and telecommunications moguls. Under the Israeli law these crimes are punishable by three to ten years in prison.

The trial itself is not a first in the Israeli history of penal justice, however, it becomes attention-grabbing for various reasons. It is for the first time when a serving head of a government stands trial. The latest round of early elections ended with a period of 18 months alternative governing by the two parties – “Blue and White”, led by the retired general Benny Gantz and “Likud”, led by Netanyahu.

Benjamin Netanyahu

It is true that there once was an almost similar episode in Israel, when the former Prime Minister and leader of the “Kadima” Party, Ehud Olmert, stood trial for bribery and was sentenced to 16 months in prison. The difference in that case was that the trial and the conviction took place after the prime ministerial mandate, which Olmert served between 2006 and 2009.

The court session on the 24^th of May was rather procedural, without actually starting the trial. Nevertheless, the Prime Minister in office, using his well-known way of quarrelling and “with a straight back and [his] head held high”, in his own words, employed the well-known strategy “the best defence is a good offence”. Thus, Netanyahu attacked straight away, fully denying all the charges and claiming that he was the victim of a wide and complex conspiracy involving major “plotters”, such as the justice system, the police, the media and the opposition parties – all seeking, according to “Bibi”, to remove him from power and from the Israeli political life. To quote him again, Netanyahu believes he is the victim of a real “witch hunt”.

However, the trial against Benjamin Netanyahu exceeds the boundaries of a judicial action taken against one person so that it raises worrying and difficult questions regarding the impact the trial itself and, most of all, its conclusions might have on both the internal political chessboard and the regional conflicts in which Israel is involved. And we are referring to the decades-long efforts to finding a viable solution to the Palestinian issue, as well as to the extent the Israeli Prime Minister will be able or not to add another victory to the panoply of successes achieved by him or rather enabled by the Trump administration on the matter of Jerusalem and the Jewish settlements in the Palestinian territories.

The victory he wishes for and has already made public is about the annexation of new territories from the Palestinian autonomous territory West Bank and of some pieces of land north of the Dead Sea, or part of the strategic Jordan Valley.

Netanyahu has reasons for concern, as his trial will be neither easy, nor swift and it could stretch for months or even years. While Netanyahu's next in person court appearance was set for the 19^th of July, his lawyers filed for a one-year extension period to study the case files.

What can be the outcome of this fight? Two situations are normally possible.

Should Netanyahu be found not-guilty, and should he be acquitted, one may say the accused has won a confrontation against the State of Israel. This might tempt him to consider and proclaim, just like King Louis XIV of France, “L’etat, c’est moi” (“I am the state”). At the same time, he could be tempted to terminate the power-sharing agreement reached with Benny Gantz.

There is a second situation, when the defendant is found guilty. Such a verdict could determine his supporters to challenge the court’s ruling through protests and aggressive pressure.

Experts in the functioning mechanisms of Israeli democracy do not hesitate to state that Israeli democracy could suffer a blow in both cases – at least as far as its reputation for being “the best democracy in the world” is concerned.

However, Bibi’s trial has just begun.