Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while testifying at his corruption trial on Wednesday, said he spoke to Walla owner Shaul Elovitch in an attempt to convince him to ensure Walla engaged in better journalism, but not for his own benefit.
“I didn’t talk to him to get a better article for myself,” said Netanyahu, animated about an article he said downplayed the Iranian Islamic regime threat.
He argued that Walla had a responsibility as a news website, telling the judges how important it was for an “organism” to be able to “identify threats to itself.”
Go to the full article >>While the indictment of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu detailed one incident in which his office “demanded” an article on a story, the defense showed that a spokesperson’s message to Walla used softer language.
“We request your help to include this,” said the message.
Earlier, Netanyahu argued that there was a difference between a request and a demand in a case in which the prime minister is accused of a deal for positive media coverage.
Walla’s rhetoric in articles showed that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not have a special relationship with the website, he argued in his Wednesday corruption trial testimony.
A retrospective article on Netanyahu’s “bomb speech” described how the red line against Iran had disappeared, which he said did a disservice to him. Another article said that a “Day in the Life of the Prime Minister” video was propaganda.
“It doesn’t serve me, and it doesn’t serve what’s important to me,” said Netanyahu.
The defends highlighted another Walla article that Netanyahu said had incorrectly recounted events, and he would have provided a better account if he had been involved. Zeev Rubinstein, he said, was telling Walla about such stories on his own. Earlier in the testimony, he noted that Rubinstein sometimes invoked his name when he wasn’t involved.
During his Wednesday corruption trial testimony, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu challenged the premise of the indictment that he maintained an exceptional relationship with Walla.
Netanyahu asked how the investigators were able to determine that his relationship with Walla was beyond the norm. He asked what other politicians did and if it was checked what their relations with news outlets were.
The hearing next Wednesday for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial will be held in Jerusalem without testimony from the defendant.
The judges wish to discuss Wednesday’s deliberations and how to proceed with all 315 items of the indictment.
Go to the full article >>The judges accepted the defence’s request to take a half-hour break in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial testimony.
The Defense showed judges articles on the same subject from Walla and other news outlets at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial testimony on Wednesday, arguing that Walla was often more hostile than other news sites.
Netanyahu said that Globes was factual, Haaretz was in the middle, and Walla was hostile and toxic.
The difference between a request and demand arose in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial testimony on Wednesday.
Netanyahu reviewed a message in which Zeev Rubinstein allegedly requested Walla to "please" help publish a positive story about Sara Netanyahu involving her to ensure Bedouin children with cancer had a “fun day."
Netanyahu noted the difference in the language in the message and the indictment, the latter of which described the inquiry as a “demand.”
“There is a difference between a demand and a request,” said Netanyahu.
The defense requested that the Monday hearing of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial testimony begin early so that it could also finish earlier.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received a note from an aide during his Wednesday corruption trial testimony, leading defense attorney Amit Haddad to sarcastically remark to journalists that there was a note if “someone wanted to tweet it.”
