Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial testimony on Monday turned to focus on the benefit that he allegedly provided to co-defendant Shaul Elovitch in a supposed media bribery scheme, with the Israeli leader claiming that he didn’t know what business approval documents he was signing and that he was focused on instituting sound reforms for the country rather than aiding the former Walla and Bezeq owner.
When questioned about signing a 2014 document approving financial actions by Bezeq parent B Communications, Netanyahu said that “At the time I didn’t understand anything, I didn’t know what I was signing.”
When the prime minister confused the document with another that he signed approving the sale of Yad 2 to Walla, Netanyahu added that “You can see I don’t even understand this today.”
Netanyahu explained to the judges that he couldn’t scrutinize every document given to him by the Communication Ministry or aides to sign, and such a document came to his desk through the bureaucratic process and the legal reviews it entailed. This included the Yad2 approval document.
No time to review what he had signed
The prime minister said that sometimes his aides or ministry representatives would draw his attention to important items, or if he had time he would read the document headlines, but sometimes he didn’t have time to review what he was signing. Such documents were of special disinterest for Netanyahu, who explained that he didn’t want to interfere in the free market.
The prime minister said he didn’t know that the document was important to Bezeq and Walla owner Shaul Elovitch, and argued that allegations that he signed the document to benefit his co-defendant didn’t match with the timeline, as during this period there was no positive coverage of Netanyahu on Walla.
It was “regulatory absurdity” Netanyahu repeated during the Monday testimony, that “normative” business operations such as the 2014 Yad2 sale had to be approved by the government.
Netanyahu didn’t know that Elovitch would earn millions of shekels due to the sale of Yad 2, and he didn’t have Walla and a supposed quid pro quo for positive coverage in mind when he signed the approval, he testified.
The indictment alleged that Netanyahu had expedited the Yad2 sale at the behest of ex-Walla CEO Ilan Yeshua, but Netanyahu said that the indictment demonstrated the absurdity of the claim by detailing a supposedly complicated series of intermediaries between him Elovitch.
Netanyahu explained that according to the indictment, Yeshua contacted Elovitch, Elovitch contacted Netanyahu’s former chief of staff Gil Sheffer, Sheffer contacted then-chief of staff Eyal Haimovsky, Haimovsky contacted Netanyahu’s secretary, who passed on the message about the business deal to him. The prime minister joked that the scenario was akin to the Passover holiday song “Ahad Gadiyah.”
Targeted for indictment
With all the people involved in reviewing and approving the deal, Netanyahu said that the fact that he was targeted for indictment, rather than ex-communication minister Gilad Erdan, indicated that he had been targeted with false allegations.
“Why didn’t you indict Erdan?” said Netanyahu.
Presented with phone logs contemporaneous to the Yad2, Netanyahu recalled the phone conversations he had with Elovitch as mostly being to consult with him about Japan, India, and China.
“If I called him it was about Japan, if he called me it was about Yad2,” said Netanyahu.
Netanyahu counted the entries of the call lag induced in the indictment one-by-one in front of the judges, noting that there were only about 8 calls lasting more than a few minutes between him and Elovitch over the course of a year.
“There’s nothing exceptional here,” said Netanyahu.
Other reforms that Netanyahu advanced, allegedly to the benefit of Elovtich, were according to Netanyahu policies that were otherwise needed.
“I advanced a very difficult reform — difficult but correct — to break up a monopoly,” said Netanyahu.
The prime minister said that he didn’t want to benefit or damage Elovitch’s interests — these were not factors in his consideration.
“It is absolutely unbelievable,” Netanyahu said, repeating the word “unbelievable” in English.
Netanyahu also addressed the topic of advocacy for the sale of Walla to Australian tycoon James Packer. Packer was someone who shared similar interests in Chinese and Australia markets, said Netanyahu, and had been considering the purchase of an Israeli news outlet. Netanyahu said that he suggested Packer establish his own outlet.
The prime minister contended that the prosecution’s arguments that he advocated for the sale of Walla to Packer contradicted those that he maintained a media bribery scheme for positive coverage on the website. If there was a mutually beneficial relationship with Elovitch, there was no purpose in advocating for Packer to purchase the outlet, Netanyahu argued.
At the beginning of the hearing, the prosecution issued a statement addressing Haddad’s Wednesday arguments that the indictment did not adequately attribute how Netanyahu was aware or involved in demands made to Walla in an alleged media bribery scheme.
The defense said that there were 82 items and coverage requests in the indictment in which direct involvement from Netanyahu were not detailed, and another 59 requests in which it was not explicitly detailed how he or family were involved. The prosecution said that all demands catalogued in the indictment and its first appendix originated from Netanyahu or his family.
Netanyahu had allegedly developed a coverage demand mechanism with co-defendants Shaul Elovitch and his wife, in which it was generally known that demands were being made by family members. The indictment and prosecution never claimed that Netanyahu knew of the specifics of each demand made by family members directly or through intermediaries, but knew that demands were being made.
Netanyahu and family members allegedly made demands of Walla, together and separately, sometimes through intermediaries, the prosecution said. The supposed intermediaries did not act of their own initiative, the prosecution said in response to arguments made by Haddad and Netanyahu on Wednesday.
Netanyahu and Haddad continued to argue against the narrative that he had received positive coverage from Walla, reviewing article after article demonstrating poor or negative coverage of Netanyahu and his family.
Netanyahu said that Walla was causing “massive damage” by providing spin in favor of Iran, which he said much of Israeli media was guilty of. The defense highlighted Walla’s ostensible hostility to Netanyahu by noting that one article on the website contained a picture of the prime minister with a caption describing him as the “Israeli [former Iranian president Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad.”
Netanyahu described Walla as “Walla Iran,” “Walla Hamas,” and in a repeated nickname for the site, “Walla Ackbar.”
Despite his animosity for the site, Netanyahu argued that he didn’t have the means to monitor the outlet to be able to maintain a bribery scheme. Netanyahu said that he didn’t have a cellphone or laptop computer.
The prime minister also explained to the judges that he didn’t bother to contact Elovitch about negative articles like ones presented by Haddad because he saw Walla as hostile and Elovitch as uninterested in correcting his outlet’s behavior.
Investigation ‘improperly conducted’
Netanyahu also continued to advance the idea that the investigation into him was improperly conducted, with Haddad claiming that another of the allegations in the indictment was not presented to him. Netanyahu asserted that investigators did not question him about “97%” of the items in the indictment.
A handful of Netanyahu supporters stood outside the courthouse on Monday, echoing the narrative that the trial was part of a political hitjob against him
“Enough persecution!” read one sign, while another thanked Netanyahu for defending the country during a war.
The war continued to creep into the courtroom as Netanyahu continued to receive notes from his aides.
“I need leave now,” said Netanyahu, before the judges approved a five minute break in the testimony.
The testimony had started and ended an hour early to accommodate the prime minister’s schedule, but the Tuesday hearing was set to begin at its normal hours.
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