Prosecutors on Sunday dropped an altercation against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu removing any reference to his family in a corruption accusation in which he is accused of trading favors with a powerful media mogul.
Netanyahu has been charged with fraud, breach of trust and acceptance of bribes in three corruption cases. One alleges that Netanyahu promoted hundreds of millions of dollars worth of rules to the owner of Bezeq telecoms company Shaul Elovitch in exchange for positive coverage on his popular news site Walla.
The Prime Minister and his legal team at a hearing about his corruption charges at the Jerusalem Court of Justice
(Photo: Amit Shabi)
In response to a request from Netanyahu’s lawyers for more information, prosecutors issued a letter Sunday claiming that 315 incidents of Walla being asked to cover were made in favor of Netanyahu and his family. They said there were indications that Netanyahu was personally involved in 150 of those incidents.
He said the requests included giving more time or publicity to positive articles about Netanyahu and his family, changing headlines and reducing or even removing misleading stories. -favorable. It also included a request for negative coverage on Netanyahu’s competitors.
Shaul elovitch
(Photo: Yuval Hen)
Air Jan. 17-19, 2013, for example, said Netanyahu’s partner persuaded Elovitch to publish stories saying that the wife of Naftali Bennett, the leader of Yamina’s rival party, was working in a non-kosher restaurant.
Several weeks later, Netanyahu, through the same alliance, alleges that he pressured Walla to remove critical articles about a lacy dress his wife had sworn to swear. replaced with a new parliament and favorable reviews. The site agreed to both requests, he said.
Once again, Elovitch apparently ordered, at Netanyahu’s request, Walla to stop a live broadcast of a rally by Netanyahu’s opponents during the country’s 2015 election campaign.
The Netanyahu trial began last year and is expected to resume next month. He denies any charges against him, saying he has been the victim of a witch hunt organized by hostile media, police and prosecutors.