JERUSALEM: Israeli prosecutors on Sunday released an amended indictment spelling out detailed charges against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a corruption case in which he is accused of trading favors with a powerful media mogul.
Netanyahu has been charged with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three corruption cases. One of them alleges that Netanyahu promoted regulations worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the owner of the Bezeq telecom company in exchange for positive coverage on its popular Walla news site.
In response to a request from Netanyahu’s lawyers for more details, Israeli prosecutors released a letter Sunday alleging there had been 315 incidents of Walla being requested to make its coverage more favorable for Netanyahu and his family. They said there were indications that Netanyahu was personally involved in 150 of those incidents.
It said the requests included giving more time or prominence 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, which allegedly included numerous requests to publish flattering articles and photos of Netanyahu’s wife Sara, to conceal reports of embarrassing expenditures and personal information about the Netanyahu family and attempts to embarrass his rivals. It quoted Bezeq’s controlling shareholder at the time, Shaul Elovitch, as expressing concerns that Netanyahu would not approve lucrative business deals for the company if negative articles were published.
On Jan. 17-19, 2013, for instance, it said a Netanyahu associate persuaded Elovitch to publish stories saying that the wife of Naftali Bennett, head of a rival religious party, worked in a non-kosher restaurant. Several weeks later, Netanyahu, through the same associate, allegedly pressed Walla to remove critical articles about a lacy dress his wife had worn to the swearing-in of the new parliament and replace it with favorable reviews. The site consented to both requests, it said.
On another occasion, Elovitch, at Netanyahu’s request, allegedly ordered Walla to halt a live broadcast of a rally by Netanyahu’s opponents during the country’s 2015 election campaign.
Netanyahu’s trial began last year and is scheduled to resume next month. He denies all charges against him, saying he is the victim of a witch hunt orchestrated by a hostile media, police and prosecutors.
Israeli prosecutors spell out allegations against Netanyahu
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Israeli prosecutors spell out allegations against Netanyahu
- Netanyahu has been charged with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three corruption cases
Turkish and Greek leaders set for talks on migration, maritime borders
- Fifteen migrants died in a shipwreck off the Greek island of Chios last week after their boat collided with a Greek coast guard vessel and sank in the Aegean Sea off the Turkish coast
ANKARA: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan will host Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Wednesday for talks likely to focus on migration and longstanding maritime disputes, as the NATO allies and historic rivals try to build on warming ties.
Fifteen migrants died in a shipwreck off the Greek island of Chios last week after their boat collided with a Greek coast guard vessel and sank in the Aegean Sea off the Turkish coast.
Mitsotakis will be accompanied by ministers responsible for foreign affairs, finance, development and migration, Greek officials said.
Developments in the Middle East, Iran and Ukraine, migration, trade and organized crime are also likely to be on the agenda.
Greek Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Lana Zochiou said on Tuesday the aim was “to assess the progress of bilateral cooperation” and “to keep communication channels open to defuse any potential crises.”
Turkiye is a transit country for migrants seeking to reach the European Union via Greece. Ankara says the EU has not fully delivered on commitments under a 2016 migration deal and Athens wants Turkiye to do more to curb irregular crossings.
Despite a thaw in rhetoric since a 2023 declaration on friendly relations, the neighbors are at odds over maritime boundaries in the Aegean, an area widely believed to hold energy resources and with implications for airspace and military activity.
Ankara said last month it had issued a maritime notice urging Greece to coordinate research activities in areas of the Aegean that Turkiye considers part of its continental shelf.
Greece’s foreign minister had said Athens planned to extend its territorial waters further, including potentially in the Aegean.
In 1995, Turkiye’s parliament declared a casus belli — a cause for war — should Greece unilaterally extend its territorial waters beyond six nautical miles in the Aegean, a stance Athens says violates international maritime law. Greece says it wants only to discuss demarcation of maritime zones.
