(Agencies)

The Central Court in Tel Aviv decided to cancel the trial sessions for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which were scheduled for Tuesday, due to security reasons, according to Hebrew media reports on Monday.

Reports indicated that Shlomo Binder, head of the military intelligence division in the Israeli army, provided the court with explanations for Netanyahu's inability to attend the session. This raised sharp criticisms due to the involvement of the military in the criminal cases concerning the Prime Minister, especially since Binder had previously received a reprimand for his cautious stance on a proposed U.S. plan regarding the Gaza Strip.

In the same context, the Attorney General rejected Netanyahu's request to reduce the number of sessions for his testimony from three times a week to twice, and opposed his request to cancel the session scheduled for Monday, February 24, demanding the court compel him to provide an alternative date for any postponement request.

The Attorney General emphasized the importance of accelerating the pace of listening to testimonies due to the magnitude of the case, stressing the necessity for Netanyahu to comply with the court's decisions.

Netanyahu faces charges related to corruption, bribery, and breach of trust in three cases known in the media as files 1000, 2000, and 4000, where the former legal advisor to the government, Avichai Mandelblit, filed an indictment against him in November 2019.

The charges in "File 1000" relate to Netanyahu and his family receiving valuable gifts from businessmen in exchange for providing them with favors, while in "File 2000," he faces accusations of negotiating with the publisher of "Yedioth Ahronoth" for positive media coverage. In "File 4000," he is accused of providing favors to Shaul Elovich, the former owner of the "Walla" news site and an official in the "Bezeq" telecommunications company, in exchange for supportive media coverage.

The trial of Netanyahu has been ongoing since 2020, during which he denies all the charges against him, considering them politically motivated attempts to oust him.