First group of witnesses in Netanyahu trial disclosed

The prime minister has said that it was his right to replace Berger when he assumed the communications portfolio.

By YONAH JEREMY BOB
WITH HIS court case looming on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is launching a last-ditch campaign against the levers of civil society, in particular the judiciary, the police and the role of the free press. (photo credit: TAL SHAHAR/REUTERS)
WITH HIS court case looming on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is launching a last-ditch campaign against the levers of civil society, in particular the judiciary, the police and the role of the free press.
(photo credit: TAL SHAHAR/REUTERS)
In a legal brief to the Jerusalem District Court, the state prosecution on Tuesday revealed a list of the first group of witnesses that it plans to call as part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bribery trial in January.
While many of the witnesses are lesser known names filling out the full picture for Case 4000, the Bezeq-Walla Affair, there are three key names in the initial group: former Walla! CEO Ilan Yeshua, former Communications Ministry director-general Avi Berger and former top Netanyahu aide Nir Hefetz.
Yeshua broke the case open, revealing to the police that Bezeq and Walla! owner Shaul Elovitch were ordering a systematic shift of coverage about Netanyahu so that it would be positive, as part of a media bribery scheme in which the prime minister would give favorable government policy regarding Bezeq in return.
The former Walla! CEO also supplied an invaluable, large volume of text messages to support the allegations.
Berger was fired by Netanyahu because he opposed the policy shifts which favored Bezeq as improper and unprofessional.
Netanyahu has said that it was his right to replace Berger when he assumed the communications portfolio.
Curiously, not in the initial group, but undoubtedly part of a later group, would be Shlomo Filber, a close Netanyahu aide who the prime minister installed to replace Berger, and who carried out Netanyahu’s controversial policy shift to the benefit of Bezeq.
Filber later became a key state’s witness and accuser of Netanyahu.
Hefetz is one of the other key state’s witnesses who turned against his former boss, providing much of the narrative of being the middleman who managed the prime minister’s orders to Elovitch and Yeshua regarding Walla! coverage.
Netanyahu has rebutted allegations in Case 4000, saying that he is allowed to campaign for positive coverage with all media groups, and routinely does so, just like all politicians.
Further, he has asserted that any communications policy changes which helped Bezeq were signed off on by some apolitical officials at the Communications Ministry – even if they were in the minority.
He has also alleged that law enforcement coerced his former aides to turn on him and lie to save their own skin.
The order of witnesses is only initial and often changes during the course of a trial.