Do Israeli judges consider themselves more entitled than, say, elected officials? It may be the case.
On Monday, we reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed his health condition Monday morning, at the beginning of his testimony in the Tel Aviv District Court, and explained that his recovery was not complete because, in the middle of the process, he was dragged to the Knesset to vote a month ago (Netanyahu Accompanied by Physician in Court: Judges Won’t Give Bibi a Break).
During his testimony on Monday, Netanyahu complained to the judges that they showed no consideration and did not grant his request to reduce the number of days he testified to once a week, in light of the doctors’ demand for a slow and gradual recovery.
“You have to understand, I had surgery a little less than a month ago, 4 weeks. The normal recovery process for a person who is resting is six weeks, as is customary,” Netanyahu said, explaining, “In my case, the recovery did not go exactly according to the doctors’ expectations and wishes.”
The judges refused to listen, and ordered Netanyahu, post-surgery and all, to show up in court three times a week, from 9 AM to 2 PM.
However, Netanyahu’s testimony, originally scheduled for Tuesday, was canceled at the last minute. The court cited the illness of one of the judges as the reason for the postponement.
To paraphrase the late great Abbie Hoffman, this court is giving hypocrisy a bad name.
The court’s decision to postpone stated that later on Tuesday there would be an announcement regarding the next session, depending on the health of the judge.
