Haim Geron, a witness to the corruption process of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was one of two Israelis killed in a light plane crash in Greece on Monday. The other was his wife, Esti.
The names of the Gerons, the only two victims of the accident, were deleted for publication on Tuesday.
Geron was a deputy director general of engineering and licensing at the Ministry of Communications.
According to the Foreign Ministry, the couple left Haifa on a single-engine plane in the afternoon and was flying near the island of Samos, near Turkey, when their light plane landed on Monday evening.
The Greek Coast Guard recovered their bodies several hours later with the help of divers.
The ministry said consular officials at the Athens embassy were in contact with the family and helped bring them to Israel so they could be buried.
Officials said Tuesday that the Greek Air Accident Investigation and Aviation Board was investigating the causes of the crash.
“Shortly before landing, communication with the Samos control tower was lost and the Civil Aviation Authority informed the search and rescue center of the loss of communication,” the authority said in a communiqué.
Greek media said the Cessna 172 aircraft appeared to be suffering from a technical problem and disappeared from radar, but the cause of the crash is still unclear.
Netanyahu is on trial for three corruption cases known as Case 1000, Case 2000 and Case 4000. In Case 4000, the most serious of the three, Netanyahu is alleged to have abused his powers when he served as Prime Minister and as Minister of Communications from 2014 to 2017.
Then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was seen arriving at a court hearing in the Jerusalem District Court on April 5, 2021. (Oren Ben Hakoon / POOL)
Netanyahu is accused of using his position to illegally and very profitably profit the business interests of Shaul Elovitch, the controlling shareholder of telecommunications company Bezeq. In return, Elovitch allegedly provided Netanyahu and his family with positive coverage on the Elovitch-owned Walla news website, which allowed associates and family members of the then prime minister to dictate content and editorial policies periodically.
In May 2020, Geron, a trained lawyer, spoke to Radio 103FM about the testimony he had given at the Netanyahu trial and said it was related to the development of the country’s fiber optic infrastructure, the communications industry and telephone services. Tested about whether he had ever witnessed any criminal activity in the ministry, Geron replied that “the court is the only one that can determine whether something is criminal or not.”
He stressed that he was not asked about the Bezeq-Yes agreement, which is a key element of the trial. That deal, which went ahead in 2015, cost Elovitch hundreds of millions of dollars, according to state prosecutors, and Netanyahu’s alleged intervention to approve him as communications minister was part of his illicit deal. quid pro quid with Elovitch, according to the charges.
Netanyahu’s trial resumed on Monday with the continued interrogation of key witness of the state, former general manager of Walla’s website, Ilan Yeshua.
The 1000 case involves allegations that Netanyahu received illicit gifts from benefactor billionaires. The 2000 case involves an alleged separate quid pro quo deal with Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper editor Arnon Mozes to get positive media coverage in exchange for legislation weakening a rival newspaper.