Ilan Yeshua testimony in Netanyahu case concludes after six months

• Published date: 11 October 2021
• Author: YONAH JEREMY BOB
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

After Yeshua finished his testimony, the trial's second witness, former Walla chief editor, Aviram Elad, was called to testify and he said that there had been blatant and improper interventions in the outlet's reporting on behalf of Netanyahu and his family.

After one month of questioning by the prosecution back in April, Yeshua was cross-examined for about two months by the defense until the summer recess, followed by additional defense questioning when the trial reopened on September 13.

On Monday, the prosecution questioned Yeshua for several hours as part of the rebuttal questioning process, with the goal of trying to repair damage done by the defense during cross-examination.

In one example, the sides dueled over an article posted on the website in which former New York mayor Rudi Giuliani supported Netanyahu's controversial 2015 speech to the US Congress against the Obama administration's support for a nuclear deal with Iran, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

In the first round of questioning, the prosecution presented this time as an example of Netanyahu's interference with how Walla operated.

The defense tried to minimize its significance, arguing that the item was only up on the website in the middle of the night.

During rebuttal questioning, the prosecution showed that the article was already online at around 10:00 p.m., still considered prime time for news sites.

Similarly, Monday saw a lot of the same all-out legal war between the lawyers over nuances regarding which side had correctly framed Yeshua's role and character in the case, with the judges having to intervene numerous times to calm the waters.

All of the proceedings to date have been part of the prosecution's efforts to prove media bribery in Case 4000, the Walla-Bezeq Affair.

In order to convict Netanyahu in the case, the prosecution needs to prove two parallel components.

The first one is that the former prime minister, and his aides at his direction, allegedly systematically managed Walla's media coverage in around 315 incidents between the years 2013-2016.

A related second component would be that Netanyahu allegedly used his power as prime minister and communications minister to influence government policy to help Shaul Elovitch, the joint owner of Walla and Bezeq, to the tune of NIS 1.8 billion in value, in exchange for control of large aspects of Walla's coverage.

Former Walla news editor Michal Klein and former desk chief Amit Shkady are expected to testify after...