What happened
The three cases — known in Israeli media as Cases 1000, 2000, and 4000 — allege distinct patterns of conduct. Case 1000 concerns lavish gifts, including cigars and champagne, Netanyahu and his family allegedly received from wealthy businessmen in exchange for personal favours. Case 2000 alleges Netanyahu negotiated with the publisher of a major Israeli newspaper for more favourable coverage in exchange for weakening a rival free paper. Case 4000 — considered the most serious — alleges Netanyahu provided regulatory benefits worth hundreds of millions of shekels to the controlling shareholder of Israel's Bezeq telecom company in exchange for favourable coverage on the Walla news site, which Bezeq's shareholder also controlled.
Netanyahu has consistently denied all charges, characterising the prosecution as a politically motivated 'witch hunt' driven by a hostile legal establishment and media — rhetoric that directly informed the 2023 judicial overhaul documented elsewhere in this file, since several of the changes proposed would have altered the courts' and Attorney General's power over exactly the kind of proceedings Netanyahu was facing personally, a conflict of interest opposition figures and legal experts raised explicitly throughout the overhaul debate. The trial, delayed repeatedly by the COVID-19 pandemic, the war beginning in October 2023, and defence requests, was still ongoing as of 2025, with Netanyahu continuing to serve as prime minister throughout — Israeli law does not require a sitting prime minister to resign while under indictment or even during an active criminal trial, unlike the standard that applies to other ministers.