Netanyahu's Tuesday trial testimony has ended

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Tuesday corruption trial testimony ended. The Wednesday hearing at the Jerusalem District Court will be on procedural matters, without testimony or attendance by Netanyahu.

The reason for why one of the articles that was requested by Prime Minister's wife, Sara Netanyahu, and Zeev Rubinstein to be removed from Walla was because it was "fake news," the defense argued at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Tuesday corruption trial.

"Did you know that it was fake news when you wrote the indictment?" Defense attorney Amit Haddad asked the prosecution.

Netanyahu said that his wife engaged with the issue on her own initiative and he had no knowledge of the incident, and when alleged media scheme bribery middleman Rubinstein contacted ex-Walla CEO Ilan Yeshua saying that "they" [the Netanyahu family] were stressed by he article, it was another instance of Rubinstein taking liberties with acting in the prime minister's name.

Ahead of Wednesday's hearing on procedural matters for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's corruption trial, the issue of how to proceed with the prime minister's testimony on hundreds of items in the indictment reared its head early on Tuesday as the defense and defendant repeated and rehashed arguments made during previous hearings.  

With 315 items in the indictment appendix, many of the Walla articles, messages, and calls presented by the defense see the prime minister repeating himself throughout the hearing.

On Wednesday, the judges and legal teams may decide to group certain items together by subject matter for the prime minister to testify on. 

Political spokespersons are in contact with journalists frequently, argued Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Tuesday corruption trial testimony, and his office’s communications with Walla were not exceptional in that regard.

Netanyahu responded to a chain of text messages included in the indictment against him for an alleged media bribery scheme, in which a request was made to remove an article. 

Netanyahu argued that such interactions were not exceptional and that criminalizing communication between politicians and journalists would damage democracy. He challenged the prosecution to apply such a standard for themselves for their own spokesperson’s communications with journalists.

“What is exceptional here?” Asked Netanyahu.

Many of the calls between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and co-defendant Shaul Elovitch included in phone logs in the corruption indictment were between secretaries organizing a meeting, Netanyahu said at his Tuesday testimony.

In one call just over a minute, Netanyahu recalled that he had contacted Elovitch to complain about the general quality of journalism on his website, which included coverage of him.

Netanyahu noted that he had contacted Elovitch directly, and not spoken to mutual friend Zeev Rubinstein, who the prosecution claimed served as a middleman in a media bribery scheme.

The Prime Minister also argued that because many of the calls were so short, it was unlikely anything untoward could have occurred. 

At his Tuesday corruption trial testimony, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized Walla's proliferation of a famous photograph taken by Jerusalem Post photographer Marc Israel Sellem, arguing that its use did him a disservice.

The photograph, which captured the moment that Netanyahu pointed past then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel, casting a shadow on her upper lip that resembled the mustache of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, caused diplomatic tremors.

"It didn't support me, it didn't support her," said Netanyahu.

The virality of the photograph put the Israeli government in a "bad situation," and diplomatic actors were displeased by the incident, Netanyahu recalled.

Other news outlets provided more favorable coverage of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his family than comparable Walla articles included in the indictment, the defense argued at the Israeli leader's Tuesday corruption trial testimony

Defense Attorney Amit Haddad presented an article by Ynet's lifestyle branch Xnet, which explored the "new look of Sara Netanyahu." Haddad led Netanyahu through a line of questioning to highlight that despite the positive coverage, the prime minister was not in connection with Ynet's owners and did not work to have the article published.

Haddad said that a day after the Xnet article was published, a Walla article about the style of different world leaders. Netanyahu's wife was included in the fashion review. This article was included in the indictment, but Netanyahu said that despite there being more photos of his wife in the Xnet article, the other outlet wasn't being investigated.

Netanyahu said that it was ridiculous that an indictment was based on an Israeli leader supposedly being involved in a request to include a photograph of his wife in an article.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu requested a break in his Tuesday corruption trial testimony in 15 minutes after having received an envelope from an aide.

Defense attorney Amit Haddad argued at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Tuesday corruption trial testimony that there was no connection between the Israeli leader's signing of regulatory business approvals and news coverage on Walla, as made evident by the character of the articles on the outlet.

Haddad continued to present Walla articles that he and Netanyahu argued presented the prime minister in a negative light to dispute the supposed exchange between the leader and former Walla owner Shaul Elovitch.

Walla was not providing the prime minister exceptional positive coverage but was "exceptionally hostile," said Netanyahu.

Netanyahu said that he signed regulatory documents regardless of what people wrote about him.

"I hope you honorable judges will recognize my record as both a prime minister and finance minister and see how absurd this is," said Netanyahu. 

Business approvals signed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu years before a supposed media bribery scheme with co-defendant Shaul Elovitch were far more financially substantial than those signed after the alleged understanding, the defense argued at the Israeli leader's Tuesday corruption trial testimony at the Tel Aviv District Court, explaining that they were approved in a comparable routine manner.

As with the approvals for 2014 B Communications and the Yad 2 sale, which the prosecution alleged was expedited at the behest of former Walla officers, Netanyahu said that he didn't remember signing 2010 business approvals and didn't feel any responsibility to Elovitch. 

There was no difference between the 2010 and 2014 articles, but defense attorney Amit Haddad argued that the 2010 items were more financially substantial than the 2014 approvals. He and Netanyahu continued to emphasize that these 2010 documents were approved before he and Elovitch became closer acquaintances in 2012 and prior to the alleged scheme to exchange positive coverage on Walla for government favor.

"Simply completely routine," said Netanyahu.