National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi testifies at Netanyahu trial

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Case 4000 trial (Bezeq-Walla case) resumed on Tuesday morning. National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi testified concerning his position as acting Communications Minister between June 2016 and May 2017.

In case 4000, the prime minister was accused of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust. Hanebi's testimony was already submitted to the prosecutor's office, as opposed to a preliminary investigation, and with the consent of the parties involved, Maariv reported. He went on the stand for cross-examination by Netanyahu's defense attorneys and businessman Shaul Elovich, who was the chairman of Bezeq and the owner of the "Walla" news site.

As part of the police testimony submitted to the court, Hanegbi was asked about the objections that the Communications Ministry had to the policies of Shlomo Filber, who was the director-general of the ministry at the time and served as its head on the issue of canceling the structural separations of the Bezeq telecommunications company.

"Filber preferred not to fight with the media companies; he believed it was an effective way to promote things," Hanegbi said when asked about the relationship between Filber and Elovich.

Large financial gain

The structural separation was supposed to bring with it a large financial gain for Elovich, who controls Bezeq. The structural separation made it impossible to offer customers joint packages within the framework that Bezeq knew how to provide television through Yes and internet infrastructure.

Hanegbi explained that his time serving under Netanyahu in the Communications Ministry, "under the Prime Minister's decision, when he was in a conflict of interest due to his friendship with Elovich.

"Netanyahu made a decision to give up his ministerial authority in a series of laws following the conclusion," Hanegbi continued. When asked if these were laws related to Bezeq, Hanegbi said that it wan't just the telecommunications company, but also in areas that Elovich is responsible for, such as Walla and Yes.

"I made decisions without the Prime Minister being informed," he said and also informed about Filber: "I took a temporary position. He was before me, and I knew he would also remain after me. He was the dominant figure throughout the period and had already formulated his policy. He consulted and brought me information but knew I intended to leave and would not go into details. I did the minimal things, nothing more."