Bibi trial day four: Judges press prosecution, Netanyahu presents arguments
Netanyahu's Tuesday testimony canceled due to Mt. Hermon tour, court says.
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 >>Fourth day of Netanyahu testimony begins in Tel Aviv
The fourth day of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s testimony for his corruption trial began at the Tel Aviv District Court on Wednesday.
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.