Israeli Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu leaves the room after a news conference at the Ministry of Defence in Tel Aviv, Israel, April 30, 2018. (photo credit: REUTERS/AMIR COHEN)
X ![]()
Dear Reader,
As you can imagine, more people are reading The Jerusalem Post than ever before. Nevertheless, traditional business models are no longer sustainable and high-quality publications, like ours, are being forced to look for new ways to keep going. Unlike many other news organizations, we have not put up a paywall. We want to keep our journalism open and accessible and be able to keep providing you with news and analyses from the frontlines of Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World.
As one of our loyal readers, we ask you to be our partner.
For $5 a month you will receive access to the following:
- A user experience almost completely free of ads
- Access to our Premium Section
- Content from the award-winning Jerusalem Report and our monthly magazine to learn Hebrew – Ivrit
- A brand new ePaper featuring the daily newspaper as it appears in print in Israel
Help us grow and continue telling Israel’s story to the world.
Thank you,
Ronit Hasin-Hochman, CEO, Jerusalem Post Group
Yaakov Katz, Editor-in-Chief
UPGRADE YOUR JPOST EXPERIENCE FOR 5$ PER MONTH Show me later Don’t show it again
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was questioned Friday in what is expected to be the last round of questioning in Case 4000, also called the ‘Bezeq Affair.’
The interrogation was held at the prime minister’s Jerusalem residence and lasted around four hours.
“We hereby confirm that the prime minister was interrogated at his residence in Jerusalem as part of an investigation conducted by the Lahav 433 National Crime Unit and the Israel Securities Authority,” said a joint statement by the two security bodies.
“The investigation is being conducted with the assistance of the State Attorney and with the approval of the Attorney General. We can not elaborate on additional details from ongoing investigations,” the statement concluded.
Channel 2 reported Wednesday that police investigators were thought to have gather sufficient evidence of bribery in order to recommend an indictment against Netanyahu.
In Case 4000, the prime minister is alleged to have ordered top aide Shlomo Filber – who he appointed as director-general of the Communications Ministry – to issue favorable rulings for Bezeq. That reportedly included getting anti-trust regulators to approve Bezeq’s merger with satellite TV unit Yes.
Bezeq’s news site Walla has been accused of exchanging that favor for giving positive coverage to Netanyahu and his wife, with the prime minister’s aide Nir Hefetz managing the contact. Hefetz agreed to become a state’s witness, testifying against his former boss.
(function(w,d,s,i){w.ldAdInit=w.ldAdInit||[];w.ldAdInit.push({slot:10834723912266086,size:[0, 0],id:”ld-9628-9059″});if(!d.getElementById(i)){var j=d.createElement(s),p=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];j.async=true;j.src=”//cdn2.lockerdomecdn.com/_js/ajs.js”;j.id=i;p.parentNode.insertBefore(j,p);}})(window,document,”script”,”ld-ajs”);
Shaul Elovitch, the owner of Walla, its controlling shareholder and former Bezeq chairman, is said to have coordinated the coverage.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu is certain that Case 4000 has officially fallen apart,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement later on Friday.
“The data proves unequivocally that Walla!’s coverage of Netanyahu under Elovitch remained as negative as it had been when Walla! was under the ownership of Amos Shocken, and did not change when Netanyahu became communications minister,” the statement continued. “On the other hand, it was the other communications ministers who, after taking office, received a tremendous boost in positive coverage – not only in Walla! but also in major media outlets in Israel.”
“No one claims, and rightly so, that there is anything wrong with this. But Netanyahu did not have such an improvement, and therefore for this reason too, Case 4000 is crumbling,” the PMO said.
Netanyahu has repeatedly denied the accusations.
Jesus Christ is King
Comments are closed.