Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked the Jerusalem District Court to postpone the hearings of his corruption trial scheduled for this week, as he undergoes surgery today to remove his prostate following an infection.
The request, presented this Sunday by his lawyer Amit Hadad and endorsed by the prosecution, indicates that the prime minister must remain hospitalized “several days” after the intervention, for which he requires general anesthesia.
“At this stage, the court is requested to cancel the hearings scheduled for this week,” stated the letter from lawyer Hadad, in which he undertakes to keep the court updated on the state of health of the accused.
Netanyahu has been accused since 2019 of fraud, bribery and breach of trust in three separate corruption cases that have been tried jointly since 2020, in a long process in which the prime minister began testifying this month after several delays due to the war.
The prime minister offered his first testimony on December 10 and has testified six times so far before the Tel Aviv district court, where the hearings were moved because it has a bunker.
The Prime Minister’s Office reported last night that Netanyahu would undergo surgery this Sunday to remove his prostate following a medical check-up last Wednesday at the Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem, where he was diagnosed with a “urinary tract infection resulting from a benign enlargement of the prostate.” the prostate.”
The 75-year-old prime minister has since received antibiotic treatment which has cured the infection.
Netanyahu already underwent surgery on March 31 to remove a hernia, for which he required general anesthesia and from which he recovered in a couple of days.
The Israeli prime minister also required an operation in July 2023 to have a pacemaker implanted, after detecting a heart problem in a medical check-up when he was admitted for fainting while on a tour of the Sea of Galilee.
