ANKARA
Members of Israel’s Knesset (parliament) have accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of using the ongoing Gaza war to secure an end to his corruption trial.
“(Netanyahu) is conditioning the future of Israel and our children on his trial,” Knesset member for the Democrats Party, Naama Lazimi, said in statements cited by The Times of Israel news outlet on Sunday.
She said that the Israeli premier showed that he is unfit for the office by “trading his indictment in exchange for a political settlement and an end to the war.”
US President Donald Trump called again on Saturday for Netanyahu’s corruption trial to be cancelled.
Highlighting the billions of dollars the US spends annually to support Israel, Trump declared, “We are not going to stand for this,” and urged authorities to “Let Bibi go.”
“Those behind President Trump’s tweet are Netanyahu and his corrupt gang,” Democrats lawmaker Gilad Kariv said.
He denounced the Israeli premier and his circle’s “willingness to play with the national security of the State of Israel and the issue of the hostages in order to save Netanyahu from conviction in court.”
The Palestinian resistance group Hamas has repeatedly said that it is ready to release all Israeli captives in Gaza in exchange for an end to the ongoing war, Israeli withdrawal from the enclave, and the release of Palestinian prisoners.
However, Netanyahu has rejected these terms, and continued his genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, where more than 56,400 people have been killed since October 2023.
Corruption trial
Yesh Atid Knesset member Karine Elharrar warned that Netanyahu was “acting against the Israeli public interest” by linking his legal fate with hostage negotiations and regional normalization agreements.
She also accused Trump of effectively “conditioning US aid on the prime minister’s trial.”
Opposition leader Yair Lapid urged the US president “not to interfere in a legal process in an independent country.”
He also suggested that Trump’s interference might be a form of “compensation” to Netanyahu for political concessions in Gaza.
Religious Zionism lawmaker Simcha Rothman, chairman of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, called Trump’s call to end Netanyahu’s trial “inappropriate even if he is correct.”
Netanyahu faces charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust that could lead to imprisonment if proven.
In January, Netanyahu began interrogation sessions related to Cases 1000, 2000, and 4000, which he denies. The attorney general filed an indictment related to these cases at the end of November 2019.
Case 1000 involves Netanyahu and his family receiving expensive gifts from wealthy businessmen in exchange for favors.
Case 2000 concerns alleged negotiations with Arnon Mozes, the publisher of the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth, to gain positive media coverage.
Case 4000, considered the most serious, involves providing facilitation to Shaul Elovitch, the former owner of the news site Walla and a telecommunications company Bezeq, in return for favorable media coverage.
Netanyahu, whose trial began on May 24, 2020, is the first sitting Israeli leader to take the stand as a criminal defendant in the country’s history.
He also faces charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, with the International Criminal Court issuing arrest warrants for him and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in November 2024 over atrocities in Gaza.