Bibi trial day four: Judges press prosecution, Netanyahu presents arguments
Netanyahu's Tuesday testimony canceled due to Mt. Hermon tour, court says.
Judges accept defence's request for half-hour break
The judges accepted the defence’s request to take a half-hour break in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial testimony.
Netanyahu: Walla more hostile than Globes and Haaretz
The Defense showed judges articles on the same subject from Walla and other news outlets at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial testimony on Wednesday, arguing that Walla was often more hostile than other news sites.
Netanyahu said that Globes was factual, Haaretz was in the middle, and Walla was hostile and toxic.
Netanyahu differentiates between 'demand' and 'request'
The difference between a request and demand arose in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial testimony on Wednesday.
Netanyahu reviewed a message in which Zeev Rubinstein allegedly requested Walla to "please" help publish a positive story about Sara Netanyahu involving her to ensure Bedouin children with cancer had a “fun day."
Netanyahu noted the difference in the language in the message and the indictment, the latter of which described the inquiry as a “demand.”
“There is a difference between a demand and a request,” said Netanyahu.
Defense asks that Netanyahu's Monday testimony start earlier than scheduled
The defense requested that the Monday hearing of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial testimony begin early so that it could also finish earlier.
Netanyahu receives note during testimony
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received a note from an aide during his Wednesday corruption trial testimony, leading defense attorney Amit Haddad to sarcastically remark to journalists that there was a note if “someone wanted to tweet it.”
Defense argues Walla coverage of Netanayhu negative during alleged media bribery scheme
Walla’s coverage of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was often negative during the period of an alleged media bribery scheme, the defense argued during the fourth day of Netanyahu’s corruption trial testimony on Wednesday.
Defense attorney Amir Haddad presented “negative” articles, one of which described Netanyahu’s actions as “embarrassing,” in an effort to discredit the idea that Netanyahu had appealed to Walla for positive coverage.
“Not only is it not important, it’s toxic,” Netanyahu said of Walla, and why he didn’t pay mind to the website.
Netanyahu repeated the line of argument from previous testimony days that he didn’t have time to obsessively read the site, criticizing Walla as “fake news” and sharing that it was not “his home page.”
Netanyahu presents arguments regarding Zeev Rubinstein
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Walla and Bezeq owner Shaul Elovitch’s mutual friend Zeev Rubinstein could have appealed to the news site at the behest of sources besides Netanyahu, the prime minister argued at his corruption trial on Wednesday.
Rubinstein, alleged by the prosecution to be a middleman in a supposed media bribery scheme, could have received requests from Sara Netanyahu or decided to act on his own accord, said Netanyahu.
Judges level line of inquiry against prosecution
Judges leveled a line of inquiry against the prosecution during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial testimony on Wednesday regarding the rhetoric, terminology, and separation of alleged involvement or awareness in requests to Walla in the indictment.
The defense contended that it had identified dozens of items in the indictment in which it was not clearly stated that the prime minister was aware of requests or coverage changes by family members and others that did not detail that Netanyahu was directly involved.
The prosecution argued that the defense was engaged in pedantry years after the indictment had been filed.
Netanyahu's arguments to focus on his awareness of his family’s requests to Walla, attorney says
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's defense attorney, Amit Haddad, said that his arguments for the fourth day of his client’s testimony would focus on Netanyahu’s awareness of his family’s requests to Walla.
Netanyahu's Tuesday testimony cancelled due to Mt. Hermon tour, court says
The Tuesday hearing of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial testimony was canceled due to a tour of the Hermon region, the Jerusalem District Court said on Wednesday.
Go to the full article >>What you need to know
- Tuesday’s court hearing was canceled due to unknown exceptional circumstances for the prime minister.
- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces three cases against him: case 4000, case 2000, and case 1000.
- Most of the testimony so far has related to case 4000
- Case 4000 accuses Netanyahu of bribery in an alleged scheme with co-defendants Shaul and Iris Elovitch to exchange positive news coverage on Walla for Netanyahu’s implementation of policies favorable to Elovitch’s Bezeq telecommunications.
- Case 2000 alleges that Netanyahu sought to weaken the newspaper Yisrael Hayom with legislation in return for positive coverage from publisher Arnon Mozes's Yediot Aharonot.
- In Case 1000, Netanyahu is alleged to have received expensive gifts in return for furthering the interests of businessman Arnon Milchan.