The hearing in the criminal trial of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu resumed on Monday morning at the Tel Aviv District Court, as the prime minister requested that it end early due to the scheduled “40 Signatures” debate in the Knesset later in the day.
Presiding judges Rivka Friedman-Feldman, Moshe Bar-Am, and Oded Shaham obliged, and questioning by prosecutor Yehudit Tirosh continued in Case 4000, or the Bezeq-Walla affair. The hearing was set to conclude at 2:00 p.m., shortening Monday’s session by two hours so that Netanyahu could attend the parliamentary debate.
Case 4000 centers on allegations that Netanyahu granted regulatory benefits worth hundreds of millions of shekels to Bezeq’s controlling shareholder, Shaul Elovitch, while serving as communications minister, in exchange for favorable and interventionist coverage of himself and his family on the Walla news website, which Elovitch then owned. The prosecution alleges a quid pro quo arrangement amounting to bribery, fraud and breach of trust, while Netanyahu denies the existence of any such deal, arguing that regulatory decisions were professional and lawful and that media coverage was neither controlled nor consistently favorable.
Prosecutor Yehudit Tirosh pressed Netanyahu in the cross-examination on the prosecution’s thesis that Walla’s “responsiveness” to requests concerning the premier and his family went beyond routine media relations and reflected sustained editorial accommodation - a characterization Netanyahu forcefully rejects. He has repeatedly portrayed Walla as “hostile,” particularly in the run-up to the 2015 election, pushing back against the notion that the site was unusually accommodating to his interests.
Tirosh confronted Netanyahu on Monday with phone records and prior testimony from former aides, noting that calls and contact with Elovitch continued even after he had previously told investigators the relationship had been cut off following the elections. “You know that you did not sever the relationship after the elections,” she told Netanyahu, pointing to documented communication into 2016. Netanyahu insisted his earlier testimony was meant to convey that the relationship had weakened, not abruptly ended.
Prosecution revisits questions on favorable Walla coverage
Tirosh also revisited themes from last week’s hearing, including whether requests routed through intermediaries or spokespeople - at times tied to family media matters - reflected a pattern of editorial intervention at Walla - in exchange for the regulatory advantages Netanyahu allegedly provided.
Judges urged the parties to press forward as similar lines of questioning and rebuttal unfolded.
Netanyahu reiterated his need to depart court early, citing his duties in the Knesset, where the 40 Signatures debate - expected to focus on violence in Arab society - was scheduled to begin later in the afternoon