Ex-Walla editor at Netanyahu trial: News staff underwent ‘aggressive coercion’ on Netanyahu coverage

As national attention is on the High Court hearing on the reasonableness law, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial is continuing at the Jerusalem District Court.

Avi Alkalay, the former editor of the Walla news site, says that in 2015-2016, the outlet’s editorial staff underwent “very aggressive mental coercion regarding the content relating to the Netanyahu family.”

He says interventions on behalf of Walla owner Shaul Elovitch sought to portray the Netanyahus as “always good and in the right, both on politics matters and on personal things.”

Alkalay is a witness in Case 4000, which involves allegations that Netanyahu handed the Elovitch-owned Bezeq telecom giant regulatory benefits in exchange for editorial intervention in Walla in Netanyahu’s favor. Netanyahu is charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust in the case. He denies any wrongdoing in this case, as well as in two other cases.