JERUSALEM – Israeli prosecutors on Sunday released an amended indictment outlining detailed charges against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a corruption case in which he is accused of negotiating favors with a powerful media mogul.
Netanyahu has been charged with fraud, breach of trust and acceptance of bribes in three corruption cases. One alleges that Netanyahu promoted regulations worth hundreds of millions of dollars to telecommunications company owner Bezeq in exchange for positive coverage on his popular Walla news site.
In response to a request from Netanyahu’s lawyers for more details, Israeli prosecutors released a letter Sunday saying there had been 315 incidents in which Walla was asked to be more favorable to Netanyahu and his family. They said there were indications that Netanyahu was personally involved in 150 of these incidents.
The petitions were said to include giving more time or prominence to positive articles about Netanyahu and his family, changing headlines, and reducing or even eliminating unfavorable stories. It also included alleged requests for negative coverage from Netanyahu’s rivals.
The document lists the 315 suspicious incidents, which allegedly 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 their rivals. He cited Bezeq’s controlling shareholder at the time, Shaul Elovitch, who expressed concern that Netanyahu would not approve lucrative deals for the company if negative articles were published.
On January 17 and 19, 2013, for example, a Netanyahu partner was said to have convinced Elovitch to publish stories saying that Naftali Bennett’s wife, head of a rival religious party, worked in a non-kosher restaurant. Several weeks later, Netanyahu, through the same associate, allegedly pressured Walla to remove critical articles about a bow tie his wife had taken to the new parliament oath and replace it with favorable criticism. The site consented to both requests.
On another occasion, Elovitch, at Netanyahu’s request, allegedly ordered Walla to stop broadcasting live a rally of 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 against him, saying he is the victim of a witch hunt orchestrated by hostile media, police and prosecutors.