Netanyahu case: Israel's Walla employees' testimonials conclude in public corruption trial

With former news desk editor Amit Eshel's evidence on Monday, the state prosecution's presentation of testimony from Walla employees in former Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's public corruption trial came to a close, as per the reports of the Jerusalem Post. On Tuesday, the prosecution will begin rebuilding for the Jerusalem District Court the section of their Case 4000 narrative connected to the telecommunications corporation Bezeq, beginning with former Communications Ministry director-general Avi Berger.

Netanyahu devised a scheme with Shaul Elovitch, the owner of both Walla and Bezeq, in which he agreed to set favourable government policy for the telecommunications company in exchange for systematic control of news coverage about him and his competitors at Walla in exchange for NIS 1.8 billion, according to the state. Despite anti-Netanyahu sentiments, Netanyahu and Elovitch denied the claims.

Yeshua gave them orders to give Netanyahu positive news coverage

Following former Walla CEO Ilan Yeshua, who testified from April until October 11, former chief editor Aviram Elad, former news director Michal Klein and Eshel have all testified and been cross-examined since October 11. Elad and Klein stated that Yeshua or another Walla head editor, Avi Alkalai, gave them orders to give Netanyahu positive news coverage and to publish negative news coverage on his opponents, such as Naftali Bennett, Isaac Herzog, and Meni Naftali, according to the Jerusalem Post.

On Monday, Eshel testified that any pieces about the Netanyahu family had to be pre-screened by Alkalai and top management before being published. As an example of how aggressive the pro-Netanyahu forces controlled the news, Eshel pointed to a scathing piece on the Netanyahus written by former Walla legal reporter Gali Ginat, which was pulled from the website without explanation. According to Eshel, she was told that she needed Alkalai's approval before posting Netanyahu pieces.

"Elad, Klein and Eshel had no direct contact with Netanyahu"

Elovitch's defence lawyer objected at first, claiming that Eshel was merely relaying rumours and not first-hand knowledge. The lawyer further claimed that Yeshua carried out numerous interventions on his own initiative, without the approval of Netanyahu or Elovitch. According to the lawyer, Elad, Klein and Eshel had no direct contact with Netanyahu or any of his aides, therefore they simply needed to disprove Yeshua's story to establish their clients' innocence. Though Alkalai may potentially testify in support of the Walla story, the focus of the case right now is on Berger and the prosecution's claim that Netanyahu sacked the former Communications Ministry official in 2015 for allegedly blocking troublesome measures in order to assist Bezeq, according to the Jerusalem Post.

Image: AP