In Case 4000, the Bezeq/Walla Affair, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – who was then communications minister – and his wife, Sara, aided the Bezeq phone company and its owner Shaul Elovitch in return for positive coverage on the news website Walla that Elovitch also owned.
Rubinstein, a former senior employee at Israel Bonds who is close to the Netanyahu family, has been accused by police of serving as the intermediary between the prime minister and Elovitch. Police recommended an indictment against Rubinstein on charges of serving as an intermediary in the prime minister’s alleged bribery.
His was the first hearing among those facing pending indictments along with Netanyahu, whose hearing is set for October 2.
According to the leak from the hearing, Rubinstein sent text messages to Elovitch on 43 occasions to help the Netanyahus. The report said Rubinstein’s attorney said in the hearing that he did so out of friendship. The lawyer also claimed Rubinstein should not be charged as an accessory to bribery because Sara Netanyahu is not a public figure.