Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not meet with former Communications Ministry director-general Shlomo Filber to discuss moves to benefit alleged media bribery scheme co-defendant Shaul Elovitch, the Israeli leader said during his Monday corruption trial testimony, disputing Filber’s testimony about a meeting that served as a lynchpin in the prosecution’s Case 4000 theory.
Defense attorney Amit Hadad presented Filber’s calendar to prove there had been no meeting in which, according to the state witness’s 2022 testimony, Netanyahu had ordered him to help Elovitch cope with the telecommunications reforms, advance the Bezeq merger, and please Bezeq.
The prime minister said the investigators had Filber’s diary but hid it and other documents that supposedly contradicted their theory when they interrogated him. He said that in interrogations, investigators had attempted to trap him.
“It’s monstrous what’s here. There’s an industry of lies,” said Netanyahu. “This is my life we’re talking about. False accusations against me. This is the basis of bribery: a meeting that didn’t happen, things that weren’t said. The investigators have material evidence that refutes the lie, and they’re hiding it.”
What did Netanyahu say in his latest testimony?
Filber had not been directed by the prime minister to approve the Bezeq-Yes deal, Netanyahu said repeatedly, with Hadad at one point noting that the Israeli leader had approved many deals like the transfer of Yes to Hot. Netanyahu also insisted that he had not asked Elovitch to moderate prices as part of his telecommunications market reform.
While the prosecution claimed that Filber was appointed to replace Avi Berger in 2015 because the aide was a trusted confidant, Netanyahu said Monday that he was the third or fourth choice for the position, but the other candidates had declined.
The prime minister said he hadn’t seen Filber in at least a decade, and he was certainly not a confidant, accusing investigators and prosecution of sowing lies.
Berger testified in 2021 that Netanyahu had fired him after Elovitch threatened him over the pursuit of the market reforms, but the prime minister said on Monday that he fired Berger because he wanted to implement the reforms as soon as possible before the elections.
Netanyahu said he didn’t fire Berger immediately, but after six months of work at the ministry, and because the Israeli leader didn’t know if he would continue as prime minister or communications minister, he had to act quickly.
The prime minister implied that he believed Filber, who turned rogue as the state’s witness while on the stand and said he was subjected to intensely violent physical abuse during the interrogation that influenced his testimony. Defense attorney Amit Hadad asked Netanyahu if he knew Filber was threatened and offered leniency in exchange for information about the prime minister, but the prosecution said the leading questions didn’t add value to the testimony.
The Israeli leader retorted, “Discovering the truth, that’s the added value.”
He also criticized investigators for their alleged use of Pegasus spyware against Filber.
“If I knew that Pegasus, a program we use against terrorists, was being used over Walla articles, I would have exploded,” Netanyahu said. “I didn’t know that Pegasus was being used.”
Case 4000 alleged that in return for positive coverage on Elovitch’s former Walla outlet, Netanyahu advanced policies that benefited the mogul’s telecommunications business, Bezeq.
The prime minister said on Monday that he sought the 2015 telecommunications reforms to foster marketplace competition, not to benefit co-defendant Elovitch. Netanyahu said the monopoly that Bezeq held in the Israeli market wasn’t acceptable and impacted innovation and development in the country. The reforms he sought were not to benefit Elovitch but Israeli democracy.
The next court date is set for Wednesday, but at the beginning of the Monday hearing, Judge Rivka Friedman-Feldman presented a list of holiday scheduling issues that needed to be resolved.
On the week of Passover, the judge requested that the Wednesday hearing be canceled and that Netanyahu give testimony on April 14 and 15. The May 26 hearing also needed to be moved to May 27 due to Jerusalem Day. The hearings clashed with Shavuot on June 2, which Friedman-Feldman replaced with a June 5 hearing.
Defense Attorney Amit Haddad explained that Thursdays, in general, were difficult for the prime minister, leaving the June 5 date up in the air.
Yonah Jeremy Bob contributed to this report.