JERUSALEM (AP) – Israeli prosecutors on Sunday released an amended indictment detailing allegations against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a corruption case accusing him of exchanging favors with a powerful media mogul.
Netanyahu has been charged with fraud, breach of trust and bribes in three corruption cases. One claims that Netanyahu promoted rules worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the owner of the telecom company Bezeq in exchange for positive coverage on his popular news site Walla.
In response to a request from Netanyahu’s lawyers for more details, Israeli prosecutors released a letter on Sunday claiming there were 315 incidents asking Walla to make reporting more favorable to Netanyahu and his family. They said there was evidence that Netanyahu was personally involved in 150 of those incidents.
It said the requests include giving more time or publicity to positive articles about Netanyahu and his family, changing headlines, and lowering or even removing unfavorable stories. It also included alleged requests for negative coverage of Netanyahu’s rivals.
The document listed all 315 suspected incidents, including reportedly numerous requests for flattering articles and photos of Netanyahu’s wife Sara to be published, to hide messages of embarrassing spending and personal information about the Netanyahu family and attempts to embarrass his rivals. It quoted Bezeq’s then-controlling shareholder Shaul Elovitch as expressing concern that Netanyahu would not approve lucrative business deals for the company if negative articles were published.
For example, on January 17 and 19, 2013, it said a Netanyahu employee persuaded Elovitch to publish stories stating that Naftali Bennett’s wife, the head of a rival religious party, worked in a non-kosher restaurant. Several weeks later, Netanyahu, through the same employee, is said to have forced Walla to remove articles critical of a lace dress his wife had worn during the inauguration of the new parliament and replace it with favorable reviews. The site agreed to both requests, he said.
On another occasion, at Netanyahu’s request, Elovitch is said to have ordered Walla to stop a live broadcast of a demonstration of Netanyahu’s opponents during the 2015 election campaign.
The Netanyahu trial began last year and is expected to resume next month. He has denied all charges against him, saying he is the victim of a witch hunt organized by hostile media, police and prosecutors.