Netanyahu refuses to attend court hearing citing illness

According to Israel’s Channel 7 television, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister, did not attend the court hearing on his case this morning (Wednesday) due to illness.

It is expected that Netanyahu will attend the Knesset session today and vote against the bill to dissolve the Knesset, which has been proposed by opposition parties.

Meanwhile, opposition party leaders announced this morning a coordinated effort to put the Knesset dissolution bill to a vote in a public session. This decision was unanimously approved and is binding for all opposition factions.

In a statement released by the opposition parties, it was stated that, with full coordination among the parties, it was decided to remove all private bills and legislative proposals by opposition Knesset members from the agenda to focus all efforts on one goal: dissolving the Knesset and bringing down the government.

However, Netanyahu has launched a war of attrition against the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) parties to prevent their support for the Knesset dissolution bill.