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All King Bibi's men: Netanyahu's inner circle key to criminal cases

Yenişafak English
10:22 - 24/11/2019 Sunday
Update: 10:23 - 24/11/2019 Sunday
REUTERS
Protests against Netanyahu
Protests against Netanyahu

'THEY WERE AFTER ME'

The most serious case against Netanyahu, Case 4000, did not start with the prime minister. In 2017, Israel's Securities Authority (ISA) was investigating Shaul Elovitch, the chairman of the country’s biggest telecommunications firm, Bezeq Israel Telecom. ISA was investigating whether he had illegally profited from a 2015 deal in which Bezeq bought out his remaining shares in a satellite TV company.

Netanyahu, who at the time also served as Communications Minister, was not a suspect.

One of the key figures in the probe - Shlomo Filber, then director-general of the communications ministry - was picked for the government job by Netanyahu soon after he took over the communications ministry. The investigation revealed a secret backchannel between Bezeq and Filber, according to the indictment.

Investigators later found evidence pointing to the prime minister's involvement in regulatory moves that prosecutors allege provided a benefit worth about 1.8 billion Shekels ($500 million) to Bezeq. The company has denied wrongdoing.

In 2018, Filber turned state witness against Netanyahu.

Case 4000 alleges that Netanyahu's regulatory favors for Elovitch were part of a wider "give and take" relationship.

Bezeq controlled a popular news website called Walla. The indictment alleges that Netanyahu made a series of regulatory concessions that benefited Elovitch in return for better coverage of him and his family on the website.

It describes a dinner in which Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, hosted Elovitch and his wife, Iris, a few weeks before Israel's 2013 election.

"The defendants agreed that Netanyahu and his wife will be able to make demands on Mr. and Mrs. Elovitch concerning their media coverage," the indictment said.

The Netanyahus allegedly made hundreds of demands over the next few years for Walla to change headlines, remove negative reports about them and increase exposure of positive ones.

The Elovitches have been charged with bribery and obstruction of justice. Shaul Elovitch has also been charged with money laundering. The couple denies any wrongdoing.

The indictment cited a striking example of Netanyahu’s influence on the news involving a rare interview he gave Walla, days before a 2015 election.

"Netanyahu was very angry about the questions," Dov Gilhar, the journalist who interviewed him, told Israel's public broadcaster Kan in March. After the interview, "Netanyahu ripped the neck-mic off, threw it on the floor, says nothing, gets up, walks into his office and slams the door."

Gilhar told Kan that he had expected the exclusive interview to be published quickly, but two days passed before a chopped-down version ran after being edited without the journalist's involvement.

The indictment alleges the edits were dictated by Netanyahu and Nir Hefetz, the media advisor to the prime minister's family at the time and his former official spokesman.

Hefetz turned state witness in 2018. Netanyahu has been charged with bribery in this case, as well as fraud and breach of trust.

Netanyahu's demands on Walla ceased around January 2017, the indictment said, when the prime minister and Elovitch became concerned about an investigation into their dealings and Walla stopped complying with requests to favor Netanyahu in its coverage.

Walla's news desk did not respond to a request for comment.

Netanyahu said on Thursday that quid pro quo relations between politicians and the media were common, but he was being singled out.

"They weren't after the truth," Netanyahu said of police and prosecutors. "They were after me."

Attorney General Mandelblit has rejected Netanyahu's accusations. A source close to Mandelblit described him as "very fond of Netanyahu."

"But at the end of the day, there's no room for sentiment," the source said. "Either the evidence tells the story or it doesn't."

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