Israel’s former attorney general Avichai Mandelblit testified Sunday in Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption case as Saudi Arabia kept its main airport closed and moved schools online after a deadly Houthi-linked strike on Saturday.
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Israel’s former attorney general Avichai Mandelblit took the witness stand Sunday in the long-running corruption trial of Benjamin Netanyahu, the former Israeli prime minister’s political future looming with national elections weeks away.
Mandelblit, who was Netanyahu’s former Cabinet secretary, was indicted as attorney general for fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes, charges Netanyahu has denied. The trial marks the first time such charges were brought against a sitting Israeli prime minister.
Netanyahu was seated in the courtroom to hear Mandelblit’s testimony. Before entering, he said, “The truth comes to light.” Netanyahu handpicked Mandelblit for the attorney general role; Mandelblit’s tenure ended in 2022.
In Saudi Arabia, authorities kept the King Khalid International Airport closed and moved Riyadh schools online on Sunday following a deadly strike the day before. The attack killed 12 people and injured more than 300.
The strike was attributed to Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis, who threatened new airstrikes across the kingdom after the Saturday missile attack on the airport. The Houthis did not claim responsibility for that specific strike, but the group said earlier in the week it carried out two deadly attacks on the Riyadh airport.
Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, the Houthis’ military spokesperson, urged “everyone to take our warnings seriously.”
The airport strike marked a major escalation in the conflict between the Houthis and the kingdom, complicating efforts to halt a U.S.-Iran war. U.S. President Donald Trump said he was considering whether to join Saudi strikes against the rebels.
In central Gaza, residents returned home Sunday morning to assess damage from Israeli strikes after being warned to evacuate the day before. Bassam Abed said at least 10 residences housing about 300 families were reduced to rubble and that families were not given enough time to flee.
The Israeli military said the strikes targeted militant infrastructure, including three weapons storage facilities, a rocket launch site and a command centre used by Hamas militants to carry out attacks on Israeli soldiers.
Separately, the White House said it has lifted a decades-old ban on direct flights between the United States and Lebanon, following through on a commitment President Donald Trump made in July. The change follows the suspension of direct flights in 1985 after the hijacking of TWA Flight 847.
The Lebanese embassy in Washington said it welcomed the move as “a major step toward resuming direct flights.” The U.S. embassy in Beirut said the change would make it easier for family members to visit and for American businesses to invest in Lebanon, adding, “We look forward to working with our Lebanese partners to turn this opportunity into a reality.”
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