JERUSALEM (AP) – Israeli prosecutors released an amended indictment on Sunday explaining detailed allegations against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a corruption case in which he is accused of trading favors with a powerful media mogul.
Netanyahu has been charged with fraud, breach of trust and bribery in three corruption cases. One of them claims that Netanyahu has promoted regulations worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the owner of the telecommunications company Bezeq in exchange for a positive coverage on his popular news site Walla.
In response to a request from Netanyahu’s lawyers for more details, Israeli prosecutors released a letter on Sunday claiming that 315 incidents were requested in which Walla was asked to make coverage more favorable for Netanyahu and his family. They said there were indications that Netanyahu was personally involved in 150 of the incidents.
He said the requests included giving more time or prominence to positive articles about Netanyahu and his family, changing headlines and subtracting or even eliminating unfavorable stories. It also included alleged claims of negative coverage of Netanyahu’s rivals.
The document listed all 315 suspected incidents, which included numerous requests to publish articles and flattering photos of Netanyahu’s wife, Sara, to hide reports of embarrassing expenses and personal information about the Netanyahu family, and attempts to embarrass rivals. its. He quoted Bezeq’s majority shareholder at the time, Shaul Elovitch, as saying that Netanyahu would not approve profitable transactions for the company if negative articles were published.
On January 17-19, 2013, for example, a Netanyahu associate was said to have persuaded Elovitch to publish articles saying that Naftali Bennett’s wife, the head of a rival religious party, was working in a non-kosher restaurant. A few weeks later, Netanyahu, through the same associate, allegedly pressured Walla to publish critical articles about a lace dress his wife had worn when she took the oath of office in the new parliament and replace it with favorable reviews. The site agreed to both requests, he said.
On another occasion, Elovitch, at Netanyahu’s request, allegedly ordered Walla to stop the live broadcast of a rally by Netanyahu’s opponents during the country’s 2015 election campaign.
Netanyahu’s trial began last year and is scheduled to resume next month. He denies all charges, saying he is the victim of a witch hunt orchestrated by a hostile press, police and prosecutors.