NETANYAHU ON TRIAL: 1st serving PM in court * Tells judges he’s read charges * Outside, says case is a coup bid * Likud ministers escort him * O p-Ed: Berlusconi territory

[Visit timesofisrael.com for 24/7 updates]( The Daily Edition Sunday, May 24, 2020 [Taking defendant’s bench, Netanyahu becomes first Israeli PM to stand trial]( By [Jacob Magid and Michael Bachner]( [Premier sits mostly silent through opening hearing, face hidden behind face mask; confirms he has read graft charges against him, as hundreds rally outside Jerusalem District Court]( [As his trial begins, Netanyahu rails against ‘attempted political coup’]( By [TOI staff]( [Arriving at Jerusalem court, PM accuses police and prosecutors of inventing ‘baseless cases’ against him, says probes ‘were corrupted and fabricated from the start’]( [Hundreds attend pro- and anti-Netanyahu rallies as PM’s trial opens in Jerusalem]( By [Jacob Magid and TOI staff]( [Israel media review / Trial by ire: 7 things to know for May 24]( By [Joshua Davidovich]( Live updates [Gantz: Netanyahu deserves presumption of innocence, will get fair trial]( By [TOI staff]( [At court, premier rails against police, prosecutors, again claims charges against him are attempt to bring down right-wing rule; hundreds demonstrate for and against him]( [For judge presiding over Netanyahu case, a history of putting politicians away]( By [TOI staff]( [In 2015, Rivka Friedman-Feldman convicted Ehud Olmert, and said it should not have taken a retrial to do so; 14 years earlier, she found an ex-minister guilty of sexual assault]( [Ex-police chief on start of Netanyahu trial: ‘A stain on all those around him’]( By [TOI staff]( [‘The right is on trial’: PM’s backers, critics to protest outside court Sunday]( By [TOI staff]( Analysis [David Horovitz]( [Likud ministers at his side, Netanyahu asserts the entire right is on trial]( [PM’s pretrial claim that charges against him are part of a coup attempt was familiar. What was new was the array of colleagues around him, and a striking omission from his remarks]( [Rallying around Netanyahu before trial, Likud lawmakers lash legal system]( By [TOI staff]( Analysis [Haviv Rettig Gur]( [Israel riven over Netanyahu trial, but it’s the verdict that will test democracy]( [PM’s allies claim the right-wing and the marginalized are in the dock with him; opponents say the rule of law is at stake; come the day, how will half the country handle defeat?]( Analysis [David Horovitz]( [As a serving PM in the dock, Netanyahu takes Israel into Berlusconi territory]( [From Sunday, the only audience that matters for a brilliantly persuasive premier is 3 District Court judges… unless he musters the power, as ex-Italian PM did, to change the law]( Top Ops [Yoav Degani]( [Beware COVID-19 privacy invasion creep]( [People will tell themselves these are life-saving measures – but once privacy is taken away, it often cannot be fully restored]( [Sally Abrams]( [There’s no substitute for Jewish summer camp]( [It’s not an exaggeration to say that two summers at Herzl Camp in Wisconsin made me want to live a Jewish life]( [Leah Bieler]( [Family group text, COVID style – a found poem in six stanzas]( [The ephemera of lockdown include shared messages about meals, laundry and, above all, remembering to count the days of the omer]( [Sheldon Kirshner]( [Appalling Nazi headstones should be removed]( [Swastikas adorn the graves of 2 German soldiers who died in the US during WWII and were buried in American military cemeteries]( Inside story [Jacob Magid]( [How settler leaders may have scuttled a US plan for immediate annexation]( [Israeli mayors flew to DC for Trump plan rollout, believing US would back sovereignty within days, but 1 of them says colleague’s press release blasting proposal changed everything]( [Czech FM, a staunch Israel ally, pans annexation, sparking internal row]( By [Raphael Ahren]( [Russia says willing to organize meeting between Netanyahu, Abbas]( By [TOI staff]( [CRM]( [Government approves new security cabinet, ministerial committee for coronavirus]( By [TOI staff]( [Security cabinet to include a record 16 members, will also have 4 nonvoting observers]( [Cabinet holds first regular meeting; creation of Gantz’s new office said delayed]( By [TOI staff]( [The other new normal: PM to whip from cabinet summit to criminal trial]( By [TOI staff]( [Medical tech dispute illuminates power struggle between entrepreneurs, investors]( By [Shoshanna Solomon]( [Early shareholders of MobileODT, including the startup’s ousted CEO, take aim at OrbiMed, the global healthcare VC fund that injected millions into it; threats of litigation ensue]( [PA’s Eid lockdown provokes Palestinian protests, tensions across West Bank]( By [Aaron Boxerman]( [Hundreds of residents of Hebron violate coronavirus curfew, demand to pray in mosques to observe the holiday]( [Gaza woman, 77, dies of virus in Strip’s first confirmed COVID-19 fatality]( By [Jacob Magid]( [Jerusalem’s Holy Sepulchre reopens after 2-month virus closure]( By [AP]( [To maintain social distancing, church limits entry to 50 visitors at a time, requests worshipers not touch or kiss religious items]( [Virus lockdowns stifle Eid celebrations as global infections rise]( By [Anuj Chopra]( [Israeli leaders send holiday greetings to Muslims on eve of Eid al-Fitr]( By [Jacob Magid]( [20 years on, Israel’s Lebanon withdrawal inspires new Hezbollah recruits]( By [Hashem Osseiran]( [Young supporters of the Shiite terror group say they wish they’d fought against Israeli troops before pullout of military forces in 2000]( More Headlines [‘I saw fire everywhere’: 2 Pakistanis survive deadly plane crash that killed 97]( By [Ashraf KHAN]( [As US nears 100,000 deaths, NY Times fills front page with names of victims]( By [AFP]( [Former Papua New Guinea PM arrested over purchases from Israel]( By [Agencies]( [Soldier who lost leg in West Bank ramming attack moved out of ICU]( By [TOI staff]( [First Iranian tanker reaches Venezuela, no sign of US threat]( By [AP]( [Emergency shutdown leads to controlled ignition of fireball at Leviathan rig]( By [TOI staff]( [Israeli jailed in Peru over suspected drug smuggling released to house arrest]( By [TOI staff]( [Egypt’s Sissi pardons ex-cop convicted of slaying pop star]( By [AFP]( [Brazil’s Bolsonaro rocked by release of expletive-laced video]( By [Valeria PACHECO]( [China’s foreign minister says US is pushing relations to ‘brink of new Cold War’]( By [AFP]( [Unsubscribe from this List]( © 2020 THE TIMES OF ISRAEL, All Rights Reserved