Now in its fifth year, the cross-examination of Israel’s prime minister began this week with Benjamin Netanyahu taking the stand in the Tel Aviv District Court on Tuesday.

While the trial continues, legal experts tell JNS the case has collapsed from an evidentiary point of view. Netanyahu had been right, they say, the case is politically driven, something more and more Israelis have begun to understand.

“Having followed the case closely from its initiation until now I have no doubt that Netanyahu’s claim from the outset that this is political persecution is correct,” Talia Einhorn, titular member of the International Academy of Comparative Law, told JNS.