The Jerusalem District Court on Monday heard the prosecution's opening statement in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's corruption trial.
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This is the first time in Israel's history that a sitting prime minister stands trial. Netanyahu is accused of bribery, fraud and breach of trust in connection with three separate cases. He vehemently denies all charges and formally pleaded not guilty to the charges at a hearing in February.
The court heard initial testimony from the prosecution's first witness, former Walla website CEO Ilan Yeshua.
Video: Reuters/Yoni Rikner
Netanyahu personally attended the opening-statement part of the hearing but left as soon as it was concluded and before Yeshua took the stand.
Netanyahu's trial has been delayed several times over the past year due to coronavirus-related restrictions, as well as Israel's March 23 elections.
The case is headed by Prosecutors Liat Ben-Ari and Yehudit Tirosh. Representing Netanyahu are attorneys Boaz Ben Tzur and Amit Hadad. The case is being heard before a panel of three judges – Rivka Friedman-Feldman, Moshe Bar-Am and Oded Shaham.
As the prime minister arrived at the courthouse, dozens of anti-Netanyahu protesters gathered chanting slogans for him to be removed from office.
Expecting protesters, police forces deployed around the court and have cordoned off most of the streets leading to it. Despite the roadblocks, protesters railing against Netanyahu as well as demonstrators supporting him gathered near the court to state their own case.
'All are equal before the law'
Netanyahu is facing corruption charges in three cases: Case 1,000, which centers on the alleged receiving of gifts from powerful businessmen in exchange for favors promoting their interests, in which the prime minister is accused of fraud and breach of trust; Case 2,000, in which Netanyahu is suspected of offering to help improve the circulation of Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot in exchange for positive coverage and in which he is also accused of fraud and breach of trust; and Case 4,000, in which the PM is accused of allegedly promoting regulatory decisions that favored the interests of Shaul Elovitch, then the controlling shareholder of telecom giant Bezeq, in exchange for positive coverage Elovitch's Walla news website. In this case, Netanyahu is accused of bribery, fraud and breach of trust.
Under Israeli law, a prime minister is under no obligation to stand down unless convicted. No other minister is protected in this way, so there are legal and political reasons why Netanyahu wants to stay in power.
In her opening statement, Ben Ari said, "Israeli law demands all be equal before it and before the court, regardless of their station in life. This principle ... is ingrained in the democratic-legal legacy of this country. Unfortunately, this is not the first time an acting Israeli prime minister stands trial.
"The case before the honorable court today is a significant and severe case of governmental corruption. The first suspect is the prime minister of Israel who, according to the indictment, used his great power in a forbidden way."
Yeshua, took the stand shortly before 11 a.m. and was questioned by Tirosh. Yeshua's testimony is considered a key element in Case 4000, as he claimes to have received ordered directly from Shaul and Iris Elovitch, who are also on trial.
Yeshua told the court that he "instructed to downplay" negative items about Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, while highlighting items that helped boost the PM's image. He said he was "instructed by my superiors" to publish "positive articles and stories about the prime minister and his wife and occasionally about his son, but mostly about the prime minister and his wife."
He also told the court that he was told to publish negative stories about Netanyahu's rivals, such as Yamina leader Naftali Bennett. "We put out a series of articles against Bennett and his wife," he said.
Tirosh asked Yeshua if he knew why he was required to give Netanyahu preferential treatment, to which he replied, "Because that's what the prime minister wants. That was the explanation that was given."
Yeshua said that Tali Ben-Ovadia, the former editor-in-chief of the highly popular Walla news, was removed from office "because she was perceived as being anti-Netanyahu. She wrote something against him and we had to remove her."
He noted that he was told "to do everything Nir Hefetz says," referring to former Netanyahu spokesman Nir Hefetz, who is a state's witness in the case.
This included "nor tunning anything to do with the submarine case. ... All we were allowed to do was run their [the PMO's] response to the items."
Iris Elovitch interrupted the testimony, yelling at Yeshua, "Why do you lie?!"
Undeterred he continued, "It was clear we were doing the PMO's bidding. We were well-trained."
But the orders coming down from the Prime Minister's Office regarding favorable coverage for Netanyahu did meet with pushback by senior Walla editors, Yeshua said.
"There were fights about it all the time. [Former Walla editor-in-chief] Yinon Magal, who no one can call a leftist, would storm out of my office, yelling, 'This is crazy! This doesn't make sense! What do they [the Elovitches] care?"
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Yeshua noted that while at times he would try to rationalize the issue, in other cases he would argue that giving Netanyahu favorable coverage was necessary to ensure the website did not "appear overly liberal."
Asked by Tirush to describe his opinion of the situation in one word, Yeshua replied "abuse."
"There was the abuse I took and the abuse I inflicted on my subordinates. The pressure was on all the time. As well-trained as we were, we never knew what to expect. Even Shaul and Iris said it was crazy, but that we had no choice and we needed to do this."
Staff morale, he said, had sunk to new lows. "The reporters knew that if they wrote something negative it won't get published so they censored themselves. I got to a point where if I saw a negative item I would start shaking.
"In hindsight, I wonder why I agreed to all of this. I loved my job. Walla was my life's work. I was there for 13 years. I had hoped to manage it better. I thought it was temporary. But at some point I realized, it was never going to end. We're talking about something that happened between 2013 and 2016. In hindsight, I should have walked away immediately."
When asked by the prosecutor how involved the prime minister, his son, and his wife were in the decision-making process in Walla, Yeshua said: "What was said was through intermediaries; I did not talk with him directly. Shaul, Iris, Nir and Ze'ev Rubinstein mediated." He was asked to talk about Netanyahu's associates' efforts to relay requests that would affect the news coverage. "Nir Hefetz would send WhatsApp messages and requests, usually regarding items that should be uploaded; Shaul Elovitch would send more requests to take things down."
Yeshua said that both Elovitchs were involved in meddling. "There came a point where I would tremble if I saw an item that shed negative light [on Nentanyahu]," he said.
At around 4 p.m. the court adjourned for the day.
