Day 480 - Quagmire in judicial branch as justice minister flexes
The Times of Israel Daily Briefing
The Times of Israel
4.5 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 28 January 2025
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.
Legal reporter Jeremy Sharon joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.
Sharon was in court yesterday as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu resumed his testimony in his corruption trial. We hear whether the premier seems in good health following his prostate surgery even as his hearing was canceled today and tomorrow over a judge's illness.
We learn that an angry Netanyahu alleged that key aspects of the case against him rested on testimony that had been illegitimately obtained from witnesses such as former aides Nir Hefetz, Ari Harrow, and Shlomo Filber and that aspects of the indictment against him are factually inaccurate.
After an unprecedented 16 months without a permanent Supreme Court president and in the face of unrelenting opposition from Justice Minister Yariv Levin, Justice Isaac Amit was elected head of Israel’s top court on Sunday night in a court-forced vote by the Judicial Selection Committee.
Sharon delves into the tricky situation in which Levin, together with the other coalition representatives in the committee, Settlements Minister Orit Strock and Otzma Yehudit MK Yitzhak Kroizer, boycotted the hearing in protest of the decision by the Supreme Court — sitting as the High Court of Justice — to order him to hold a vote in the committee.
For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.
Discussed articles include:
Netanyahu aiming to meet Trump at White House next week in first visit by foreign leader
Netanyahu accuses police of extorting ‘false testimony’ from state witnesses
Isaac Amit finally elected Supreme Court president; Levin pledges to boycott him
Israel finally gets a permanent Supreme Court president; what does he stand for?
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IMAGE: Israeli Justice Minister Yariv Levin attends a plenum session at the assembly hall of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, December 4, 2024. )Chaim Goldbergl/Flash90)
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Times of Israel's daily briefing. |
| 0:10.7 | Today is Tuesday, January 28th, day 480 of the war. |
| 0:15.7 | Amanda Borchelle, Dan, here with our legal reporter, Jeremy Sharon. |
| 0:19.1 | Hi, Jeremy. Thanks for joining me today. |
| 0:21.9 | Hi, good morning, Amanda. |
| 0:28.5 | Good morning. We are going to learn what transpired in court yesterday as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned after sick leave to his corruption trial. Jeremy will shed light on what happened and what to expect from here on. And if a Supreme Court votes in a new |
| 0:40.9 | president and the justice minister decides to boycott him, is his appointment valid? |
| 0:47.5 | Jeremy will fill us in on the saga of Justice Isaac Amit versus minister Yereve Levine. |
| 0:54.5 | All this and much, much more when we're back. |
| 1:00.6 | What if we could protect Israel with autonomous airborne devices, lasers, robots, and cyber technologies? |
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| 1:13.1 | empowers brilliant innovators to make technological discoveries that keep Israel safe. From the Iron |
| 1:19.0 | Dome to the soon-to-come Iron Beam, to vital cybersecurity, Technion alumni are leading projects |
| 1:25.2 | that protect Israelis and will reestablish the country's |
| 1:28.3 | military deterrence. Be part of Israel's future at ats.org slash what if. That is ats.org |
| 1:33.5 | slash what if. |
| 1:38.4 | For some updates, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Terror Group released a propaganda video last night of civilian hostage Arbel Yehoud, who is due to be released on Thursday. |
| 1:50.1 | Also yesterday, security contractors have started inspecting vehicles in Gaza to prevent heavy weaponry from being moved to the north of the strip, |
| 1:58.5 | where tens of thousands, even potentially more, |
| 2:01.9 | Palestinians returned to yesterday. And Egyptian officials said that Egyptian contractors, |
| 2:08.3 | along with the U.S. firm, were running checkpoints to inspect the vehicles heading to the |
| 2:13.0 | northern Gaza Strip. The contractors are part of an Egyptian Qatari committee implementing the ceasefire. |
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