In testimony, Milchan denies getting help from Netanyahu on TV merger

Hollywood producer says Sara Netanyahu never complained about not receiving champagne, and says she gave his own wife and kids gifts, contradicting his previous testimony to police

Arnon Milchan, a key witness in the trial of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, testified Sunday that the premier had not provided him with assistance in advancing a proposed merger of the Keshet and Reshet television networks, a move which could have benefited him financially.

Questioned on the issue by Netanyahu’s defense attorney on day six of Milchan’s testimony, Milchan averred that the proposal for merging the channels had merely been vague ideas that never significantly advanced, and that the prime minister had regardless not helped him on the matter.

Other key witnesses, such as former senior Netanyahu aide Shlomo Filber, have testified, however, that the prime minister did attempt to help his friend Milchan — who gave luxury gifts worth hundreds of thousands of shekels to Netanyahu — advance the Keshet-Reshet merger.

The indictment against Netanyahu in Case 1000 alleges that Netanyahu abused his power by assisting Milchan’s application for a long-term US visa, advancing legislation that could have given Milchan tax breaks, and promoting the Keshet-Reshet merger, all while receiving lavish gifts from him.

Milchan is now in the second week of his testimony, most of which has been under cross-examination from Netanyahu’s defense attorney Amit Hadad. He has been testifying from the Old Sea Hotel in Brighton, United Kingdom, via a live broadcast to the Jerusalem District Court, where Netanyahu is on trial for fraud and breach of trust in three separate cases, as well as bribery in one of them.

Milchan — a well-known businessman and Hollywood producer who owned shares in Channel 10 (since changed to Channel 13), operated by Reshet — testified on Sunday that the merger of Keshet and Reshet did not advance very far.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seen at the Jerusalem District Court during the testimony of businessman Arnon Milchan’s Netanyahu’s corruption trial, July 2, 2023. (Oren Ben Hakoon/POOL)

“I’ll make the whole story with Reshet and Keshet simple, I wasn’t willing to enter as an investor until there was a merger,” Milchan said on Sunday.

Asked by Judge Moshe Baram if there had been any commercial negotiations between the two sides, Milchan said that Udi Angel, Reshet’s majority shareholder, had simply not been interested in the idea.

“There was no negotiation, there was no price, there was nothing, just vague ideas,” said Milchan.

In testimony given in February last year, Filber said that Netanyahu had told him to assist Milchan with regulatory issues relating to the merger.

Milchan said in his testimony on Sunday that he had informed Netanyahu about the idea “in his role as communications minister,” which the prime minister had held at the time, and that the premier had been interested in the idea, but he concurred with Hadad that the proposal never got far enough to request regulatory approval.

Hadad returned to other aspects of Case 1000 during the course of his testimony, specifically asking about whether or not Netanyahu or his wife Sara had ever given Milchan or his family gifts — in an attempt to demonstrate that the relationship between Milchan and the prime minister had been one of friendship and not transactional.

Sara Netanyahu and businessman Arnon Milchan seen on a screen before his testimony in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial, in Brighton, UK, on June 27, 2023. (Oren Ben Hakoon/POOL)

Milchan said that Sara had indeed given his wife Amanda and their children gifts and concurred with Hadad’s assertion that this was a sign of their mutual friendship, given that Milchan’s wealth meant he did not need anyone to buy him anything.

In his testimony under questioning by the police, Milchan previously derided the idea that Netanyahu had ever given him anything.

“Do you want me to fall on the floor from laughter?” he said in his testimony at the time. Asked about that comment last week, Milchan said he had made the remark because he had felt “pressured” by the investigator and had requested to have it removed from the record.

Asked about his testimony last week that he and the Netanyahus had used code words for the champagne, cigars and clothing that he had bought for them, Milchan said that they did so just as a game and not out of any desire to hide or cover anything up.

Milchan also denied that Sara had ever complained if he visited them and did not bring champagne.

“There’s was no such thing,” he said.