A preliminary list was filed six months ago, but the current comprehensive list is the one that will allow the witness stage of the trial to open.
Former Walla CEO Ilan Yeshua, who in many ways got the ball rolling against Netanyahu in Case 4000, will be the first witness on April 5, with the trial running Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday every week.
According to the indictment, Yeshua was constantly given orders by Bezeq and Walla owner Shaul Elovitch about improving media coverage for the prime minister.
This was part of the alleged Elovitch-Netanyahu media bribery scheme of positive coverage in exchange for the government catering its policies to benefit Bezeq and Elovitch.
Yeshua is expected to testify about extensive telephone conversations and texts from Elovitch to ensure more-positive stories were posted about Netanyahu, that positive stories were given greater prominence on the Walla website and that negative stories were given less-prominent spots.
Other negative articles about Netanyahu allegedly were delayed or dropped.
The former Walla CEO’s testimony to police helped break open aspects of Case 4000 that led to former Netanyahu top aide Nir Hefetz and eventually to the prime minister himself.
After Yeshua, former Walla chief executive editor Aviram Elad, former news director Michal Klein and former head of the news desk Amit Eshel are expected to testify.
They are expected to fill in the picture of what happened within Walla under orders from the prime minister, Sara Netanyahu and Hefetz.
Elad is also expected to testify about attempts by the Netanyahu family to get him fired because he sometimes failed to cooperate with the scheme and allowed publication of negative stories related to the Submarine Affair.
The next witness is expected to be former Communications Ministry director-general Avi Berger.
Berger was fired by Netanyahu in mid-2015 because he opposed the policy shifts that favored Bezeq as improper and unprofessional.
One policy shift was approving the Bezeq-Yes merger, which is at the heart of Case 4000.
A second significant shift was moderating price changes and competition against Bezeq.
In place of Berger, former Netanyahu campaign manager Shlomo Filber took over the Communications Ministry and pushed through the prime minister’s desired policies.
Filber denied wrongdoing for years, but he eventually turned state’s witness against Netanyahu in early 2018.
Though he is not part of the first set of witnesses, he is expected to testify at a later date and could be one of the toughest witnesses against Netanyahu.
After Berger, former Competition Authority official Dror Shtraum and former deputy director-general for finance of EUROCOM Felix Cohen are expected to testify.
Next, Hefetz, who also turned state’s witness in early 2018, is expected to outline both his and Netanyahu’s alleged extensive roles in the media bribery scheme.
Hefetz is another crucial witness against the prime minister, but he is viewed as potentially more vulnerable under cross-examination. This is both because of his looser way of communicating and because part of the interrogation he endured included exposing a romantic connection he had with a woman who was not his wife.
Further details about that romantic connection remain under gag order.
After Hefetz, police investigators Nir Schwartz and Yaniv Peleg are expected to testify.
The prosecution has also disclosed another 10 witnesses it expects to testify in Case 4000.
There are sometimes last-minute changes to witness lists even mid-trial, but the prosecution will not be able to add additional witnesses beyond what is declared absent special permission by the court.
Even these first 10 witnesses could easily take three to six months or even longer before getting to other witnesses in Case 4000.
Case 2000, the Yediot Aharonot-Israel Hayom Affair, and Case 1000, the Illegal Gifts Affair, will come at a later date, though there have been rumblings that billionaire tycoon and key Case 1000 witness Arnon Milchan may be called earlier.
The prosecution has expressed concern that telephone conversations between Netanyahu and Milchan and the prime minister’s lawyer Boaz Ben Tzur and Milchan could influence the tycoon’s testimony.