Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to take the witness stand on Tuesday, but observers shouldn't expect to witness typical testimony from a defendant in serious bribery cases. Instead, what's likely to unfold is a series of maneuvers and political theatrics—perhaps even campaign rhetoric—anything to avoid creating the impression that he, the supreme leader who travels by royal aircraft to meet world leaders and addresses Congress, is bowing before "deep state" judges who allegedly only want to oust a sitting prime minister.

Two main issues appear to preoccupy him, for which he'll seek to provide answers: first, the supremacy of law versus governance, and second, how his involvement in the trial brings him closer to incapacitation.

Attorney General Miyara's determination that her decision regarding his incapacitation would be based on his conduct during the trial has eliminated his option to simply not appear. The moment he fails to show up for trial, it paves the way for incapacitation. He had counted on Ben-Gvir's police force not enforcing his court appearance, but the investigations against Ben-Gvir's senior appointees will compel police officers who remain loyal to professional ethics to carefully consider whether to obey the minister rather than the court.

Therefore, Netanyahu will have to appear for his trial, but not without tricks and schemes. We've already seen Speaker Ohana attempting to coordinate Netanyahu's court appearance with his parliamentary obligations, and we've witnessed a fever of security consultations regarding developments in Syria. However, after Biden and Trump closed off his options for northern and southern wars, he's now examining how to exploit the situation in Syria for unnecessary Israeli actions, such as capturing the Syrian Hermon or deeper penetration into the Syrian Golan, to create a security situation that would justify postponement of trial.

The catch in these scenarios is that Netanyahu will prove he is indeed incapacitated, and due to his trial, appropriate measures cannot be considered, nor can decisions unrelated to the trial be made regarding national security.

Consequently, we can expect careful evasive maneuvers that won't cross the incapacitation threshold but will drive the system mad. When he takes the witness stand, he's likely to repeat his intimidating performance from the trial's beginning, where he accused and threatened his judges.

The judges are aware of this ploy and have therefore closed the courtroom to live broadcast, aiming to deny him this platform, which could potentially become a stage for inciting his supporters to storm the courtroom. We've already seen rehearsals for this in the threatening displays surrounding the "Broom Commando" affair.

Without live broadcast, it's expected that during the extra morning hour granted by the judges, he will report to "the citizens of Israel" about the trial in a way that demonstrates his control over the judges, rather than their authority over him. Naturally, he will direct his propaganda machine to report on the trial according to his convenience rather than actual events.

One can only hope to be proven wrong.