Former Supreme Court president Aharon Barak said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial had gone on for far too long and reflected a failure in its handling, in a rare and wide-ranging interview released this week.
Speaking on the All In podcast hosted by journalist Nadav Perry, Barak, nearly two decades after retiring from the Supreme Court, addressed the Netanyahu trial, Israel’s democratic future, the absence of a state commission of inquiry, and aspects of his own judicial legacy.
Addressing the ongoing criminal proceedings against the prime minister, Barak said the length of the trial pointed to a fundamental problem.
“The trial is too long. There is a flaw in its management,” he said.
Barak also said he was surprised by the judges’ reported recommendation to remove the bribery clause from the indictment, referring to developments surrounding Case 4000.
Netanyahu has been on trial since 2020 in three cases, commonly known as Cases 1000, 2000, and 4000, which include charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust. The prime minister denies all wrongdoing.
Barak linked the state of Israel’s democracy directly to the outcome of the next national elections, warning that voters would bear responsibility for the direction the country takes.
'We will know in the next elections if the people want democracy'
“We will know in the next elections if the people want democracy,” he said. “If this government is elected again, we will not be able to say, ‘We didn’t know.’”
His remarks came amid ongoing domestic debate over judicial reform, governance, and the balance of power between Israel’s branches of government.
Barak was also sharply critical of the continued failure to establish a state commission of inquiry, calling the situation unreasonable.
“It is very not logical that there is still no commission of inquiry,” he said.
He accused Netanyahu of opposing an independent investigative process, saying the prime minister did not want objective investigators but rather politically aligned ones.
“Netanyahu does not want objective investigators. He wants investigators ‘of ours,’” Barak said.
In a rare moment of personal reflection, Barak addressed criticism surrounding his judicial philosophy and terminology associated with his tenure.
“I regret the use of the expression ‘constitutional revolution,’” he said, referring to a term long associated with the expansion of judicial review in Israel.
He also pushed back against a frequent claim made by critics, saying, “I never said ‘everything is justiciable.’”
The interview marked one of Barak’s most extensive public interventions in recent years and quickly drew attention across Israel’s political and legal spheres.