Bibi's long-running battle with the legal authorities escalates

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From a fortified bunker built in the 1960s, the prime minister of Israel has been waging the fight of his life over the past year — and not on the military front.

During Donald Trump’s first-term visit to Israel, the president was taken aback by the antiquated, unimposing structure from which Netanyahu runs the country — a world away from the White House or Mar-a-Lago.

Netanyahu, who hasn’t returned to his sprawling Caesarea home since last month’s drone strike, often spends the night at the fortified compound, bringing to mind Winston Churchill’s austere lifestyle in his famous World War II bunker.

The Israeli prime minister has been forced to devote an increasing amount of time to the fight for home — referring not to Israel, but to the prime minister’s residence. One after another of his aides have been hauled off to the interrogation room, with one, military spokesperson Eli Feldstein, being thrown into “the cellars of the Shin Bet,” as Feldstein’s attorney put it.

The string of interrogations has been accompanied by blaring headlines about severe security breaches. But as the fog cleared, one received the impression that this was just another round in the decade-long battle between Netanyahu and the justice system, this time courtesy of the security services.

I’ve known Netanyahu’s cabinet secretary Tzachi Braverman personally for years — he lives in Ness Ziona, a short drive away from my home in Rehovot. With his impeccable fashion sense, Braverman appears better suited to head the British prime minister’s team. He sources his expensive suits from name designers in the City of London, and you’ll never see him in public in the typical sabra outfit of jeans and a T-shirt.

Of all Netanyahu’s staff who have come under suspicion over the years, whether for criminal activity by the police, or for personal disloyalty by the Netanyahu clan, Braverman is the ultimate survivor, with a hitherto immaculate record.

But last Thursday, Braverman was summoned to Lahav 433 Unit headquarters in Lod for a five-hour interrogation under warning. He’s now suspected of tampering with the protocols from the morning of October 7 and taking classified materials out of the locked safe in the prime minister’s office.

Get this: Braverman is suspected of amending the protocols to reflect that Netanyahu was first updated on the security situation at 6:29 rather than at 6:40 on Simchas Torah morning. Netanyahu’s team see this as further evidence of the witch hunt against him, which began with the arrest of Eli Feldstein and his detention for days with no access to legal counsel, under conditions generally reserved for terrorists.

Feldstein’s crime was leaking a Hamas document captured by Israel to the German Bild, with the aim of thwarting a hostage deal. Having suffered countless leaks portraying him in a bad light over the years, Netanyahu sees the case as selective enforcement.

“What interest do I have in saying that I was updated 11 minutes earlier?” Netanyahu asked when informed of the suspicions against Braverman.

He’s convinced that this investigation has a nonjudicial objective.

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When the cannons roar, the muses fall silent — including the muse of justice. Throughout the war, Netanyahu has enjoyed a certain respite from his trial, with his testimony in the Jerusalem District Court postponed. But no more.

Netanyahu’s recent request for a further two-month delay of his testimony, to allow him to continue focusing on war affairs, was rejected by the High Court. Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, Netanyahu’s archenemy, drew up an opinion that his request be denied, and a panel of three judges ordered Netanyahu to show up on the appointed date.

Netanyahu used every stalling tactic he knows to avoid taking the stand to be interrogated publicly by prosecutor Liat Ben-Ari, another bitter foe. “If a reservist at the front requested a postponement, it would have been granted with absolute certainty. So why is that different for the prime minister who’s managing the war?” his attorneys demanded, without answer.

The rejection of Netanyahu’s request didn’t come in a vacuum — it’s based on Netanyahu’s response to the High Court regarding a petition to remove him from office on grounds of legal incapacitation. Bibi rebutted the petition by arguing that he could handle his legal proceedings alongside state affairs. What the High Court essentially said now was: “You said you could do both — stand by your word.”

Netanyahu had foreseen the possibility of the attorney general removing him from office on grounds of legal incapacitation, and at the start of the term, he passed an amendment to the Basic Law defining the concept of “incapacitation” as applying only to incapacity due to health issues, not due to legal proceedings.

But the High Court, which had to deliberate on the petitions filed against the amendment, ruled that the legislation was personal and would therefore only apply in the next term, not the current one. Netanyahu’s paranoia is a byword, but even a paranoid is right sometimes.

How he takes the stand in two weeks will directly impact his public standing. If he shows up sharp and focused, the right’s sense that the cases against him are manufactured will be reinforced, as will his support from the base. But if he falters on the stand, so will his supporters.

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The Netanyahu government has something in common with the incoming Trump administration. In both cabinets, the top security role will be held by people with no senior security experience.

America’s Pete Hegseth and Israel’s Yisrael Katz should sit down to share what led their bosses to put them in charge of two of the world’s most important defense systems. Netanyahu, who saw Yoav Gallant as the champion of the entrenched security elites, wanted an inexperienced politician to act as a figurehead, allowing him to serve as de facto defense minister as well as prime minister.

Trump, scarred by the unsympathetic generals of his first term, chose the tattooed Fox News presenter in an act of contempt for the military elite. Katz, in any event, was perceived as clearly unprepared for the job. His inaugural speech was a farce, and he later sparked outrage by claiming that Israel has defeated Hezbollah, just a day after it launched over 200 missiles in its worst attack on Israel so far.

And if that wasn’t enough, Katz described the disarming of Hezbollah as one of the aims of the war in a high-profile visit to the north, with the chief of staff appearing shocked beside him. The unrealistic task of disarming Hezbollah is not, in fact, a goal of the war, and the announcement only boxed the government in amid cease-fire negotiations supported by both the outgoing and incoming US administrations.

In his first week on the job, Katz opened another front, against the chareidim, with whom he clashed in his days as transportation minister by doubling down on train works on Shabbos. Katz adopted the outgoing defense minister’s directive to send draft orders to 7,000 chareidi bochurim, and the response from the chareidi parties wasn’t long in coming.

“Katz apparently wants to be Israel’s shortest-serving defense minister in history,” a senior UTJ official told me.

Despite the chareidi fury at Katz, it’s hard to see the government falling as a result of the draft issue, given that the chareidim have nothing to look forward to in the event of elections.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 1037)