Netanyahu's Tuesday testimony canceled following closed deliberation

Before the break for security consultations, defense attorney Amit Haddad continued Monday to attack the theory that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was involved in a media bribery scheme with Walla by undermining an indictment item relating to the Victory 2015 nonprofit affair.

At the prime minister's corruption trial testimony in Tel Aviv, Hadad highlighted what he said was one of the few direct communications between Netanyahu and co-defendant and then-Walla owner Shaul Elovitch, in response to the outlet's coverage of V15.

Hadad demonstrated that the Walla coverage was skeptical of the Likud's claim that foreign nonprofits were interfering with the 2015 Israeli elections, questioning if it was a right-wing "panic."

Netanyahu said that he thought it was important to speak about the matter.

The prime minister attacked Walla as  "Pravda" and lied against him. Netanyahu said that he was not asking for equality in reporting but that he was asking how it was possible that such a website had an agreement and unusual relationship with him.

Netanyahu said that foreign interference in Israeli politics was an issue that continued today. Netanyahu said that the V15 law restricted foreign political donations, and occurred not just in 2015, but also during the 1999 Nonprofit Affair that allegedly tilted the election in favor of former prime minister Ehud Barak. 

In response to the reported killing of a Hezbollah official in Sidon, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Monday corruption trial testimony was suspended so that the Israeli leader could respond to the security situation.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu challenged requests by the judges that the defense group together review the exhibits, asserting in an address to the court that each item of the indictment needed to be addressed.

"The bribery that I am accused of has 315 bricks that are the basis of bribery," said Netanyahu, referring to the items of the indictment. "On this is what they have been harassing me and the entire country for years. It is my right to self-defense, to give truthful testimony, to ask me the most pointed questions. The prosecutor's office refuses to remove the items, so I stand by my right to answer every single charge and to smash every single brick."

As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu started another corruption trial testimony on Monday, the judges said they didn't wish to review the matter of the exhibition of social media posts incorrectly attributed to former Walla editor Avi Alkilai.

During the Wednesday hearing, defense attorney Amit Hadad presented a series of X posts harshly criticizing and insulting Netanyahu by an account with the same name as Alkalai, in order to demonstrate the Walla editor's disdain for the Israeli leader and discredit the idea that Walla was part of a media bribery scheme to support him.

The prosecution filed a Sunday request to the court requesting their striking because the account belonged to a man with the same name as the witness. The prosecution spoke with Alkalai, who said he didn't control the account. The prosecution also presented multiple examples of the X account confirming to other application users that he was not the Walla editor.

The defense said Monday night that the prosecution could have addressed the issue at the hearing but chose to appeal to the media rather than the court.

Hadad argued that the point about Alkalai's animosity toward the prime minister was evident regardless of the validity of the social media posts.

According to text message logs, Alkalai allegedly made remarks calling Netanyahu and his wife "disgusting dogs" and described the Israeli leader as a North Korean dictator.

The judges said that the matter would be ruled on later. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's tenth corruption trial testimony is set to begin on Monday, with the Israeli leader's spokesperson saying that the judges asked defense attorney Amit Hadad to group items of evidence together rather than present them individually.

Hadad, who has been presenting the 315 items from the indictment to Netanyahu individually over the course of the hearings, said that he would not gamble with the life of the prime minister.

"We've gotten to the situation that the indictment is fundamentally falling apart," Hadad said in a statement.

According to the prime minister's spokesperson, Netanyahu requested to address the court directly but was refused.

"I am amazed," Netanyahu said in a statement.