Between Israel's intelligence failure & corruption trial, will Netanyahu crack?

JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial resumed last Monday following a two-month recess. The timing, in the midst of the war against Hamas, rekindled a stormy debate over whether a head of government should be allowed to make fateful decisions for his country while fighting for his political survival.

This question has dogged Netanyahu since his January 2020 indictment on bribery, fraud and breach of trust, and particularly since his trial began in May of that year, at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. 

At the time, Netanyahu and his associates pushed back against opponents’ insistence that he cannot defend himself while running the country because his decisions would be tainted by personal considerations rather than dictated by the public good. He has been repeatedly reminded of his 2008 demand as opposition head that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert resign because he was under investigation for corruption. "There is concern that he will make decisions based on the personal interest of his political survival and not on the basis of the national interest," he argued at the time.

This argument has never been more relevant. Netanyahu is steering Israel through one of its most difficult and complicated wars, sparked by the colossal Oct. 7 failure for which he and his government will likely be held accountable once the fighting ends. His trial was put on hold at the start of the war due to the state of emergency, which limited the work of the courts. Last week, Justice Minister Yariv Levin lifted the state of emergency, opening the way for the trial to resume.