Netanyahu trial day 32: Trial ends at Tel Aviv courthouse

Pulling another example, Chen presented texts that Naftali Bennett sent to Yeshua after Walla published unfavorable coverage of his political partner, Ayelet Shaked. “I saw your [Facebook] post [about the incident], please let’s talk,” wrote Yeshua to Bennett. 

Netanyahu said on Tuesday that he never received such treatment by the management at Walla. Chen attempted to show that these types of exchanges, especially when it came to elections and to anything financial that is tied to them - campaigns, flyers, etc. - are both ordinary and common.

Chen presented text messages between Herzog and Yeshua, where Herzog asked to meet. Netanyahu commented that heightened attempts to meet with journalists and media figures, especially around election season - this was in 2015 - is ordinary and common. 

“I was treated uniquely in the other direction - consistent hostility - when it came to coverage!” Netanyahu charged.

Chen presented texts sent from President Isaac Herzog, who then headed the Labor party, where he asked Yeshua twice to get back to him about an idea he had. The day after the second text, an article was published in Walla that presents Herzog in a positive light. 

Chen asked if this type of activity by politicians - presenting ideas in a certain light to journalists - and Netanyahu said that it was ordinary. What this does for Chen is show that Walla was inconsistent in its coverage in other places as well, not just when it came to the prime minister, thereby theoretically undoing one of the basic assumptions of the alleged bribery in Case 4000: that there was a give-and-take, and that Walla broke its own coverage protocols when it came to Netanyahu.

The prosecution objected to the question, saying that it presented assumptions and dealt with information that wasn’t close enough to the issue being probed. This instigated a discussion about whether these materials should have been probed more carefully by the prosecution in the first place. 

Netanyahu said he was not presented with statistics that show that at the time, there were news items about him in Walla 10 times more than any other rival relevant politician - 14,950 times. “We have records of how many times I called [Elovich] - they don’t measure up to the sheer volume of coverage,” he said on Monday. 

Asked if he knew at all about the inner workings of the news team at Walla, Netanyahu said it never came up and he had no idea, nor that he knew about the hierarchy of relationships between the CEO and the editorial team.
 

Throughout the questioning process, lead prosecution attorney Yehudit Tirosh objected several times to Chen’s questioning style, which she said summarized the questions too broadly and fed them intentionally to Netanyahu. Chen rephrased his questions.

The prime minister said at the start of the hearing that he has a security consultation scheduled for 4 p.m. today. He also asked to shorten Tuesday’s hearing in advance, ahead of already-scheduled security meetings. Lead Judge Rivka Friedman-Feldman replied that all scheduling requests for tomorrow would be dealt with then, and to carry on with the questioning for today. 

The criminal trial hearing of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began on Monday morning in the Tel Aviv District Court, the 32nd hearing in the testimonies. 

Netanyahu was questioned on Monday as part of his main defense portion of the trial, before it heads into cross-examination by the prosecution. The questioning is by the lead defense attorneys of other defendants listed in the indictment. 

The attorneys for Shaul and Iris Elovich and Arnon “Noni” Mozes are questioning Netanyahu - the primary defendant - on behalf of their clients, in two of the three cases levied against the prime minister. In Case 4000, the “Walla-Bezeq Affair,” Netanyahu is on trial for allegedly promising to advance regulatory changes beneficial to the Elovich couple’s (Shaul and Iris) business interests, in exchange for positive coverage on the Walla news site, which Shaul owned along with communication conglomerate Bezeq. This case holds the weightiest charge of the three - bribery - as well as fraud and breach of trust. Elovich and his wife were charged with bribery.

In Case 2000, the “Netanyahu-Mozes Affair,” the relationship between the prime minister and the owner of Yediot Aharonot is under scrutiny. Allegedly, Mozes offered a bribe to Netanyahu: positive coverage of him and his family in the prominent daily and negative coverage of political opponents, in exchange for the advancement of legislation that would force restrictions on rival Yediot tabloid daily Israel Hayom. Netanyahu was charged with fraud and breach of trust in Case 2000, while Mozes was charged with attempted bribery.

Netanyahu was questioned on Monday by Jack Chen, the Elovichs’ lead defense attorney.