The defense questioning phase of the direct examination in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s criminal trial wrapped on Wednesday, paving the way for the prosecution’s cross-examination next week, which could be a massive turning point in the prime minister’s image and legacy.
On his 35th day of testimony at the Tel Aviv District Court on Wednesday, Netanyahu was questioned by Sharon Kleinman, the representative for Yediot Aharonot owner Arnon “Noni” Mozes, the fourth figure charged in the indictment, along with Shaul and Iris Elovich.
In the background of the trial was the marking of the 600th day since October 7, as 58 hostages are still being held in captivity by Hamas in Gaza.
Mozez, Netanyahu relationship heart of Case 2000
The relationship between Mozes and Netanyahu is the heart of Case 2000, one of the three levied against the prime minister.
Allegedly, Mozes offered Netanyahu a bribe by proposing positive coverage of him and his family in the prominent daily and negative coverage of political opponents in exchange for the advancement of legislation that would force restrictions on Yediot’s rival daily tabloid, Israel Hayom.
The charges are based on recordings of conversations between the two, recorded by Netanyahu staffer-turned-state’s-witness Ari Harow. Netanyahu was charged with fraud and breach of trust, while Mozes was charged with attempted bribery.
Addressing the proposed legislation, which failed to pass into law, Netanyahu said he couldn’t recall exactly when he first became aware of it. He also said he had nothing to do with the public relations campaigns against the Israel Hayom bill.
Kleinman presented a strategic planning document relating to the law, which has Netanyahu’s handwriting on it.
In one area, it reads, “Sheldon [Adelson, the late owner of Israel Hayom] – to the cover.” He then presented copies of the printed paper and its supplements in the coming days, which indeed had Adelson on the cover.
Netanyahu insisted he had no recollection of discussing these details with Adelson in phone calls he had with him around that time. But he said that he wasn’t shy about his attempts to halt the legislation.
When it passed its first reading in the Knesset in 2014, Netanyahu said, “I used a word then that was truly appropriate at the time, ‘Shame!’” This was a loose reference to the rally cry issued today by protesters against the prime minister and the government.
Kleinman noted, citing police interrogation transcripts, that Netanyahu told interrogators that he had expressed as much to Adelson himself. “I am in favor of freedom of the press. I don’t control what goes into a paper,” Netanyahu said.
Kleinman pointed to a “hostile” headline in Yediot as an example of what is claimed to have been negative coverage that Netanyahu allegedly sought to change and which relates to the attempted bribery charge.
When Netanyahu insisted that the coverage was pointedly negative, Kleinman responded that the articles paint a different reality, one in which the coverage is professional: critical, yet portraying both the right- and left-wing angles. This, supposedly, is the bedrock of the drive behind the openness to a discussion with Mozes on the matter of shifting the coverage.
“Just because I didn’t sue a news company for libel doesn’t mean that I don’t think the publications were fake! Channels 11, 12, and 13 lie all the time. A public figure does not have the time to chase after all these lies,” Netanyahu charged.
Kleinman responded that the claim in this case, though, is that Netanyahu was allegedly concerned by a specific series of articles that were published, not a “wide ocean of lies.”
In one instance, Netanyahu addressed the judges, “You wouldn’t sit back if such lies were written about you, would you?” Lead Judge Rivka Friedman-Feldman responded, “Mr. Netanyahu, leave us out of this.”
What this does for Mozes’ defense is twofold: first, it calls into question Netanyahu’s reliability as a witness.
Second, it positions Yediot as a serious publication, one that covered news of the prime minister from both the Right and the Left but did so professionally, meaning that any conversations Mozes had with Netanyahu about coverage were within that framework, and so there was no attempted bribery.
After receiving four sealed envelopes in the courtroom at around 12 p.m., Netanyahu asked for a break. This was right around the time of the confirmed Israeli strikes on Yemen’s Sanaa International Airport, carried out in response to several Houthi ballistic missile attacks fired at Israel over the last week.
Separately, a decision recently enforced by the court’s guard does not allow questions directed at the prime minister while he is in the room and before the judges enter. This is common practice in any criminal trial. After a break on Wednesday, all journalists were forbidden from reentry until the hearing began anew.
This came following a volley of questions directed toward the prime minister earlier that morning. Only a few journalists shouted questions, but all were forbidden from entry.
