Netanyahu denies wrongdoing in Bezeq graft probe, calling suspicions ‘baseless’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denies suspicions that he promoted policies to benefit a media tycoon in exchange for favorable news coverage from the tycoon’s outlets, after he was questioned for over four hours at his residence by police interrogators as part of the Bezeq graft investigation.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu has never made a deal with [Bezeq and Walla owner Shaul] Elovitz in exchange for sympathetic coverage,” a statement from Netanyahu’s family spokesman says.

The Bezeq probe, known as “Case 4000” by police, involves suspicions that Netanyahu, who served as communications minister for several years over his past two terms as prime minster, advanced regulatory decisions benefiting Elovitch in exchange for flattering coverage of the Netanyahus from the Walla news site.

But Netanyahu claims on Tuesday that “Walla has consistently provided negative coverage of the prime minister.

“This negative coverage culminated in a flood of virulent articles on the eve of the 2015 elections, in an attempt to persuade the public to vote against him. This is exactly the period of time when he is accused of having allegedly made the Bezeq-Yes deal” that benefited Elovitch, he says.

Netanyahu also denies that he provided special treatment to Bezeq or Elovich. “The caim is baseless,” he says.

“There is not one case that was presented to the prime minister in which — as a minister of communications — he did not take the recommendations of the professional echelon. That’s what he did in this case as well.”

— Raoul Wootliff