Two men may be criminally prosecuted pending a hearing for the 2022 online harassment of Hadas Klein, a key witness in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's corruption trial, the State Attorney's Cyber Department announced on Monday night.
Journalist-Activist Eli Tzipori and Avi Weiss had allegedly harassed Klein last July during her testimony by publicizing information about her place of residence.
Along with remarks about her testimony, Tzipori is alleged to have shared an address and photograph of Klein's home on Twitter, Telegram and Facebook.
Tzipori reportedly credited Weiss, who had also responded to the journalist's tweet by posting Klein's full address details.
During the June and early July testimony of Klein's boss, businessman Arnon Milchan, Tzipori repeatedly argued with other journalists covering the trial.
Klein filed a police complaint against both men, and a probe was approved by the Attorney-General's Office in August 2022. The personal assistant only recently had filed a complaint against another man on Friday night, who seemingly had been arrested on suspicion on Sunday of online threats, harassment, and incitement to violence against a prosecution witness.
The harasser had, according to Maariv, claimed that she had stolen from her employer and pinned the crime on Netanyahu, and called to hunt down her and her family.
Past indictments for harassment of Hadas Klein
Tzipori and Weiss would not be the first to be indicted for harassing Klein. Tiberias resident Menachim Raviv was indicted in January for a 2022 series of tweets in which he cursed Klein and compared her "wickedness" to the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
Klein testified in 2022 on Case 1000, also known as the "illegal gifts affair," that Milchan had routinely given expensive gifts to Netanyahu, and that the Israeli leader had provided personal and business favors for the film mogul such as help with a US visa renewal issue.
On Tuesday, the Netanyahu trial continued with testimonies on Case 4000, in which the prime minister is accused of promoting regulation in favor of Bezeq owner Shaul Elovitch in return for positive coverage on his then website Walla. Editors working at Walla during the time gave their testimony about the editorial bent of the website.