Member of Netanyahu’s legal defense team says won’t represent him unless overhaul stops

Attorney Boaz Ben Zur, a key member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s legal defense team, reportedly tells the premier he will not continue to represent him in Case 4000 unless he stops the judicial overhaul.

Netanyahu is on trial in three corruption cases. He faces charges of fraud and breach of trust in Case 1000 and in Case 2000, and charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust in Case 4000. He denies wrongdoing and says the charges were fabricated in a political coup, led by the police and state prosecution.

Case 4000 is the most serious of the three cases against the former prime minister. Netanyahu is alleged to have advanced regulatory decisions as communications minister and prime minister that immensely benefited Shaul Elovitch, who was also the controlling shareholder in Bezeq, the country’s largest telecommunications firm, despite opposition from Communication Ministry officials. In exchange, he allegedly was given what amounted to editorial control over Elovitch’s Walla news site.