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Netanyahu’s Trial Resumes for Corruption Charges Amid Efforts to Sign Plea Deal

Demonstrators in Tel Aviv protesting the judicial reform plan, Israel, Saturday. (Reuters)
Demonstrators in Tel Aviv protesting the judicial reform plan, Israel, Saturday. (Reuters)
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Netanyahu’s Trial Resumes for Corruption Charges Amid Efforts to Sign Plea Deal

Demonstrators in Tel Aviv protesting the judicial reform plan, Israel, Saturday. (Reuters)
Demonstrators in Tel Aviv protesting the judicial reform plan, Israel, Saturday. (Reuters)

The trial of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Jerusalem District Court was resumed on Monday after one month of interruption.

Netanyahu faces charges of fraud, breach of trust, and accepting bribes. The total sentence for these charges is 13 years.

There are however behind-the-scenes talks about signing a plea deal.

The session was held amid criticism expressed by the judges who are leading this trial at a slow pace and had decided to go on a vacation. The court’s secretariat announced that the judges are attempting to reduce the number of witnesses and have convinced the lawyers in the defense and prosecution of this.

Experts estimated that the trial would last for two years if the pace of holding the sessions remains as it is now.

They added that if Netanyahu managed to stay in power then he would seek to pass new laws that jeopardize the court's capacities and possibly halt the trial.

The trial began in 2020 at the Jerusalem District Court which holds three sessions weekly. Five delays have occurred so far due to feeble technical reasons imposed by lawyers or judges.

The indictment mentions three cases known as Case 1000, Case 2000, and Case 4000.

Case 1000 saw Netanyahu charged with fraud and breach of trust after being accused along with his wife of receiving gifts worth approximately 700,000 Israeli shekel (around $200,000) from Israeli-born film producer Arnon Milchan and Australian businessman James Packer.

In Case 2000, he is accused of attempting to make a deal with Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper publisher Arnon Mozes for softer coverage of him in exchange for legislation to curb the reach of rival daily Israel Hayom.

Case 4000 alleges that Netanyahu granted regulatory favors worth around 1.8 billion shekels (about $500 million) to Israeli telecommunications company Bezeq Telecom Israel.

In return, prosecutors say, he sought positive coverage of himself and his wife on the Walla news website controlled by the company’s former chairman, Shaul Elovitch.

In this case, Netanyahu has been charged with bribery, fraud, and breach of trust. Elovitch and his wife, Iris, have been charged with bribery and obstruction of justice. The couple deny wrongdoing.

Netanyahu denies all allegations against him and says that he is a victim of a political conspiracy. “Receiving gifts from friends is not forbidden,” according to Netanyahu.

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World

Nepalis Fear More Floods as Climate Change Melts Glaciers

Residents told AFP they are afraid to return to their home in the Himalayan foothills as there are 'still lakes above'. Migma NURU SHERPA / AFP
Residents told AFP they are afraid to return to their home in the Himalayan foothills as there are 'still lakes above'. Migma NURU SHERPA / AFP
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Nepalis Fear More Floods as Climate Change Melts Glaciers

Residents told AFP they are afraid to return to their home in the Himalayan foothills as there are 'still lakes above'. Migma NURU SHERPA / AFP
Residents told AFP they are afraid to return to their home in the Himalayan foothills as there are 'still lakes above'. Migma NURU SHERPA / AFP

Mingma Rita Sherpa was not home when the muddy torrent roared into his village in Nepal without warning, but when he returned, he did not recognize his once beautiful settlement.
It took just moments for freezing floodwaters to engulf Thame in the foothills of Mount Everest, a disaster that climate change scientists say is an ominous sign of things to come in the Himalayan nation, AFP reported.
"There is no trace of our house... nothing is left," Sherpa said. "It took everything we owned."
Nepal is reeling from its worst flooding in decades after ferocious monsoon rains swelled rivers and inundated entire neighborhoods in the capital Kathmandu, killing at least 236 people.
Last weekend's disaster was the latest of several disastrous floods to hit the country this year.
Thame was submerged in August by a glacial lake that burst high in the mountains above the small village, famous for its mountaineering residents.
It was once home to Tenzing Norgay Sherpa, the first person to climb the world's highest mountain Everest, along with New Zealander Edmund Hillary.
"We are afraid to return, there are still lakes above," Sherpa said.
"The fertile land is gone. It is hard to see a future there," he added, speaking from the capital Kathmandu, where he has moved.
A glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) is the sudden release of water collected in former glacier beds.
These lakes are formed by the retreat of glaciers, with the warmer temperatures of human-caused climate change turbocharging the melting of the icy reservoirs.
Glacial lakes are often unstable because they are dammed by ice or loose debris.
'Rebuild or relocate'
Thame was a popular stop during the trekking season, perched at an altitude of 3,800 meters (12,470 feet) beneath soaring snow-capped peaks.
But in August, during the monsoon rains, the village was largely empty.
No one was killed, but the flood destroyed half of the village's 54 homes, a clinic and a hostel. It also wiped out a school started by Hillary.
Sherpa, like many in the village, ran a lodge for foreign trekkers. He also worked as a technician at a hydropower plant, a key source of electricity in the region. That too was damaged.
"Some are trying to rebuild, but the land is not stable," he said. "Parts continue to erode."
Thame's residents are scattered, some staying in neighboring villages, others in Kathmandu.
Local official Mingma Chiri Sherpa said the authorities were surveying the area to assess the risks.
"Our focus right now is to aid the survivors," he said. "We are working to help the residents rebuild or relocate".
'Predict and prepare'
Experts say that the flood in Thame was part of a frightening pattern. Glaciers are receding at an alarming rate.
Hundreds of glacial lakes formed from glacial melt have appeared in recent decades.
In 2020, more than 2,000 were mapped across Nepal by experts from the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), with 21 identified as potentially dangerous.
Nepal has drained lakes in the past, and is planning to drain at least four more.
ICIMOD geologist Sudan Bikash Maharjan examined satellite images of the Thame flood, concluding it was a glacial lake outburst.
"We need to strengthen our monitoring... so that we can, at least to some extent, predict and prepare," he said.
"The risks are there... so our mountain communities must be made aware so they can be prepared".
Scientists warn of a two-stage impact.
Initially, melting glaciers trigger destructive floods. Eventually, the glaciers will dry up, bringing even greater threats.
Glaciers in the wider Himalayan and Hindu Kush ranges provide crucial water for around 240 million people in the mountainous regions.
Another 1.65 billion people depend on them in the South Asian and Southeast Asian river valleys below.
- 'Himalayas have changed' -
Former residents of Thame are raising funds, including Kami Rita Sherpa, who climbed Everest for a record 30th time this year.
Kami Rita Sherpa said the locale had long been a source of pride as a "village of mountaineers", but times had changed.
"The place has no future now", he said. "We are living at risk -- not just Thame, other villages downhill also need to be alert."
The veteran mountaineer said his beloved mountains were under threat.
"The Himalayas have changed," he said. "We have now not only seen the impact of climate change, but experienced its dangerous consequences too."