MK Cabel questioned by police in Netanyahu newspaper affair

In 2014, Cabel initiated the "Israel Hayom bill" that would have outlawed the distribution of free newspapers.

By UDI SHAHAM
Eitan Cabel (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Eitan Cabel
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
MK Eitan Cabel (Zionist Union) said on Thursday that he was summoned by the police to testify as part of the corruption investigation, termed Case 2000, into Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s alleged dealings with Yediot Aharonot publisher Arnon “Noni” Mozes.
"Two days ago I was summoned by the police," said Cabel in an interview to the Military Radio. "They wanted to know if I knew anything. I told them anything I knew, but it wasn't much."
"I really knew nothing about the about those two [Netanyahu and Mozes] speaking, a fact that I find now very embarrassing."
Cabel stressed that he wasn't being investigated as a suspect. "I was there for a short period of time. They asked specific questions and I and gave them all I got."
In 2014, Cabel initiated the "Israel Hayom bill" that would have outlawed the distribution of free newspapers, including the pro-Netanyahu Israel Hayom. Two weeks after the bill passed in preliminary reading, Netanyahu dissolved the Knesset and thus the bill was halted.
"I wasn't operated by anyone," said Cabel, when asked about the support the bill got by Yedioth Aharonot in its coverage. "It is natural that when interests combine you see such things. As the chairman, I see it in many cases that are being discussed in the Economics committee."
"But it embarrasses me to answer this question. People have known me for many years; this attempt to reduce my to the size of a pawn is outrageous."
"I initiated the bill on my own, from its very beginning, to its end."