In testimony, PM says news site’s coverage of him was so bad it was known as ‘Walla akbar’

Toward the end of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s testimony today in his corruption trial, the premier described what he viewed as hostile coverage he received a decade ago from the Walla news site.

In the most serious of the three cases against him, the prime minister is being charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust for allegedly having aides intervene in Walla’s coverage to make it more pro-Netanyahu in exchange for benefits for Shaul Elovitch, then the controlling shareholder of the Bezeq telecom firm, which owned Walla.

In particular, prosecutors allege that this scheme was agreed upon at a dinner in 2012 in which Netanyahu and his wife Sara hosted Elovitch.

“There was no agreement, no bribery, no nothing. Even after the dinner,” Netanyahu argues.

He contends that Walla at the time was extraordinarily adversarial toward him, and that this did not improve over the next period of time.

“There is a reason it was called ‘Walla akbar'” — a play on the Arabic phrase “Allahu akbar” (God is Greatest) — “or ‘Walla Hamas,’ and now I add, ‘Walla Iran,'” Netanyahu says, implying that the news site’s slant was so notable it supported Israel’s enemies.

“The important point is that all this case is based on this ridiculous comment that there was some telepathy about an agreement which never happened,” he says.

“You also saw what terrible coverage I got. The claim is that I got special treatment. You asked me if there was a change in the treatment of Walla toward me after the dinner — there was no change before and after.”