Netanyahu denies providing benefits to Bezeq, says he was in favor of breaking its monopoly

Asked about reforms to Israel’s internet market that would have allowed for competition against Bezeq, which controls Israel’s internet infrastructure, Netanyahu insists that he was in favor of breaking the monopoly it held.

The premier is accused of offering regulatory benefits to Bezeq in exchange for positive news coverage on the Walla news site, then owned by Shaul Elovitch.

“Bezeq had the cables, we needed to open this monopoly and open up this infrastructure to other companies,” Netanyahu says, describing Israel’s internet infrastructure as “Soviet-like.”

“I went up against opponents to break the monopoly,” he says of the reforms, claiming that he backed then-communications minister Gilad Erdan’s attempts to pass them.

Asked by his defense attorney Amit Haddad how the reforms against Bezeq “sit with the idea that you had a ‘give and take’ relationship with Elovitch,” Netanyahu says it proves that he had no such relationship with the media mogul.

“I was advancing a reform that would do severe damage to Bezeq. This totally contradicts that theory, it collapses it….the allegation collapses, it is as clear as day,” he says. “It [an agreement] never happened and this is the proof.”

He says that he put no pressure on Erdan to provide benefits for Bezeq and that he actually “gave him full backing to break up Bezeq’s monopoly.”

“Not only did I not tell him to delay [the reforms] I advanced it.”