Nearly one year before Benjamin Netanyahu’s lawyers requested a full, unconditional pardon from his corruption cases, Netanyahu began testifying in the trial. That day, the courtroom was packed, the judges were solemn and Netanyahu sat stony-faced, until he broke out into self-exculpating oratory. But despite years of anti-judicial vitriol, he seemed to project something like a baked-in respect for the institution the three district court judges were there to uphold.
