By The South Asia Times

JERUSALEM – As the world watches historic peace talks unfold in Islamabad, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has requested a two-week delay in his long-running corruption trial testimony, citing "classified security and diplomatic reasons" connected to recent regional events.

The request, filed Friday with the Jerusalem District Court, comes just days before Netanyahu was scheduled to take the stand for the first time in a trial that has haunted him since 2020. His testimony was set to resume on Sunday, after Israel lifted a state of emergency imposed over its war with Iran following Wednesday's ceasefire announcement.

Netanyahu's lawyer submitted that "due to classified security and diplomatic reasons connected ... to the dramatic events that have taken place in the State of Israel and throughout the Middle East in recent times, the Prime Minister will not be able to testify in the proceeding for at least the next two weeks".

A sealed envelope detailing the classified reasons was delivered to the court, which will rule once the prosecution submits its response.

Netanyahu, the first sitting Israeli prime minister to be charged with a crime, denies charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust brought in 2019 after years of investigations. The charges include:

• Case 1000: Allegedly accepting over $260,000 worth of luxury goods -- cigars, champagne, jewelry -- from billionaire benefactors in exchange for political favors 

• Case 2000 & 4000: Accused of negotiating favorable coverage from Israeli media outlets in exchange for regulatory benefits 

His trial, which began in 2020 and could lead to up to 10 years in prison on bribery charges alone, has been repeatedly delayed due to his official commitments, with no end date in sight.

- Analysts: War as a Political Lifeline

But beyond the legal maneuvering, a growing chorus of analysts and political observers alleges a more troubling pattern: that Netanyahu's decision to escalate hostilities with Iran and Lebanon was driven less by strategic necessity and more by personal political survival.

"At the end of the day, Benjamin Netanyahu wants this war to continue. The continuation does serve his political career," Mahjoob Zweiri, a Gulf-based Middle East analyst, told TRT World.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi made the accusation explicit on social media. "Netanyahu's criminal trial resumes on Sunday," he wrote on X. "A region-wide ceasefire including Lebanon would hasten his jailing".

The implication was clear: the Israeli Prime Minister has a direct personal interest in keeping the region on fire.

Within hours of the US-Iran ceasefire being announced on April 7, Israel launched one of the most extensive bombardments of Lebanon in recent memory -- approximately 150 airstrikes in just two hours, according to Lebanese media. The strikes killed hundreds, including many civilians, and targeted Beirut, southern Lebanon, and the Bekaa Valley.

Analysts suggest this was not a coincidence but a calculated move.

"After the ceasefire, Israel wants to make sure to exploit the ambiguity in the US-Iran deal to gain maximum benefit before Trump tells them to stop," Joost Hiltermann, a special advisor on MENA at the International Crisis Group, told TRT World.

Others see a doctrine at work -- the Dahiya Doctrine, a strategy of using disproportionate force against civilian infrastructure to collectively punish populations. "Entire neighborhoods are treated as military targets. The goal is not precision -- it is devastation," writes Dr. Ramzy Baroud, editor of The Palestine Chronicle.

- Israel Sidelined, Netanyahu Isolated

Perhaps most damaging for Netanyahu is the revelation that Israel was not even consulted on the US-Iran ceasefire. Yair Lapid, leader of Israel's opposition, called it "a political disaster" .

"There has never been such a political disaster in all of our history. Israel wasn't even at the table when decisions were made concerning the core of our national security," Lapid wrote on X .

The European Union's top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, also criticized Israel's actions. "Israel's strikes are putting the US-Iran ceasefire under severe strain," she wrote. "Israeli strikes killed hundreds last night, making it hard to argue that such heavy-handed actions fall within self-defence".

- Netanyahu wants a pardon 

Netanyahu has another potential escape route: a pardon from Israeli President Isaac Herzog. The Prime Minister submitted a formal pardon request in late 2025, and US President Donald Trump has repeatedly pressured Herzog to grant it.

Trump has called Netanyahu a "great hero" and described the case against him as a "witch hunt". In a recent post on Truth Social, he said the trial "should be cancelled, immediately".

Herzog's office has said the justice ministry's pardons department would gather opinions to submit to the President's legal advisor for a recommendation. Pardons are not usually granted mid-trial.

The Jerusalem District Court must now rule on Netanyahu's request for a delay. If denied, the Prime Minister could be forced to take the stand as early as next week -- testifying not as a wartime leader but as a defendant fighting to stay out of prison.

As one analyst put it: "Netanyahu has framed the continuing war efforts as a strategic success, but none of Tel Aviv's stated war goals in Iran have been met". The question now is whether the Israeli public—and the courts—will see through what critics call the longest political diversion in the nation's history.