From the Liveblog of
Thursday, February 3, 2022
Police phone hacking of key witness in Netanyahu case could force trial delay
The Jerusalem District Court will likely need to decide on Monday whether to halt Benjamin Netanyahu’s trial until police and prosecutors can clarify the extent to which phone hacking was used in the cases against the former prime minister.
Channel 12 news notes it is highly likely the trial will see delays, as revelations that a key witness’s phone was hacked could affect his testimony and the wider trial.
So far reports have indicated that police, lacking approval, accessed data from the phone of Shlomo Filber, a former director-general of the Communications Ministry and longtime confidant of Netanyahu who is a state’s witness in Case 4000.
Channel 12 reports this evening that Filber’s phone was accessed in 2017. Police brass have reportedly told justice officials that the data was downloaded accidentally and was never given to investigators in the Netanyahu cases.
Netanyahu’s attorneys have demanded to know exactly how widespread the use of the spyware was, what use was made of the materials, and where the materials were kept. Prosecutors have responded that they are examining the matter.
Filber is set to begin his testimony in about two weeks. His testimony could very well be delayed until all material relating to him is given to the defense and the court.
If it turns out that phones of other witnesses were accessed, this could have even greater repercussions for the trial.
However, speaking to Channel 12, criminal attorney Boaz Koenig notes that in Israel, unlike the US, evidence obtained illegally is not necessarily inadmissible in court.
Netanyahu on Wednesday evening called the revelations an “earthquake.”
Likud’s faction chair Yariv Levin termed them “a giant Watergate affair, here in Israel.”
