Milchan, Sara Netanyahu embrace despite ban on contact ahead of 4th day of testimony

Hollywood media mogul Arnon Milchan and Sara Netanyahu kiss, embrace and talk briefly in a hotel conference room of the Old Ship Hotel in Brighton where Milchan has been testifying in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption for the last few days.

Their interaction comes despite a warning to Milchan from the State Attorney’s Office and the judges presiding over the case not to have contact with Sara Netanyahu.

During today’s hearing, in which Milchan was being cross-examined by Netanyahu’s defense attorney Amit Hadad, Milchan was questioned about the Tata initiative, a proposal to create a free-trade zone between Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority in cooperation with Indian businessman and then chairman of the Tata Group Ratan Tata, where it was proposed to build a car factory to produce cheap cars.

Netanyahu’s indictment says that Milchan asked the prime minister in 2010 to help him advance the project and that he had a financial interest in the initiative which required legislation to advance but was ultimately not implemented.

In his cross-examination of Milchan, Hadad tries to demonstrate that the contacts between Netanyahu and Tata through Milchan were not designed to benefit the Hollywood producer and businessman but rather to improve the Palestinian economy and ameliorate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Milchan denies that he had an economic interest in the project or that he spoke with Netanyahu about such financial interests in the proposed free-trade zone, insisting that the idea was purely designed to improve Israel-Palestinian relations and help bring about peace.