Benjamin Netanyahu’s trial is often portrayed as a democratic anomaly: a sitting Prime Minister appearing before a court while leading the country through a multi-front war, under the scrutiny of the entire world.

For nearly a decade, investigators, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judges have devoted enormous resources to answering a question that is simple in its wording but extraordinarily difficult to prove: did the Prime Minister use his office to obtain private or political benefits?

The investigations began in 2016. The indictment was filed in 2019. The trial started in 2020. Six years later, no first-instance verdict has yet been delivered.

In most democratic countries, such proceedings against the head of the executive branch would have been suspended until the end of the leader’s term, either through temporary immunity or on grounds of political expediency. In Israel, nothing of the sort occurred.

The police investigated. The prosecution indicted. The judges are judging.

Whether one views Netanyahu as the victim of judicial overreach or as a leader who must answer for his actions, one fact remains: few democracies would have allowed their law-enforcement and judicial institutions to devote so much energy, time, and resources over nearly a decade........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)