From Netanyahu reveals he tried to find buyers for Walla news site after owner declined to take right-wing turn
Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells the court during the second day of testimony in his corruption trial that in 2013 he searched for potential buyers to take over the Walla news site after previous owner Shaul Elovitch declined to steer the paper in a more right-wing direction
He says he believed the newspaper “could develop as a quality website” but “was never actualized.”
He says that after he raised the idea to Elovitch, the media mogul told him that it “wasn’t so simple” because it would mean replacing the people who already worked at Walla, to which Netanyahu says he told him: “I would say in such situations, switch the people.”
Questioned further by his defense attorney Amit Haddad, Netanyahu says that after it became clear that Elovitch “wasn’t about to change the make-up of Walla, to change direction by changing personnel,” he concluded that “the appropriate thing was to try and interest buyers” who he thought would be willing to invest in Walla and transform it into a right-wing outlet.
“I sought to interest people from abroad, independent people with right-wing perspectives which were not represented [in the press.]
He says that among the interested parties was Israel Hayom founder Sheldon Adelson.
He says, however, that he didn’t just attempt to convince Adelson to buy Walla, as he “also spoke to him about buying Ynet, Yedioth Aharonot, Maariv.”
“It wasn’t something special with Elovitch,” he says.
