Recordings show repeated requests by police for Netanyahu testimony on Bild leak affair being rebuffed

Recordings aired by Channel 12 appear to show police repeatedly attempting to coordinate a brief testimony from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding investigations involving his aides, only to be repeatedly rebuffed by staff in his office.

According to Channel 12, investigators sought to ask Netanyahu whether he informed senior media adviser Jonatan Urich that former media adviser Eli Feldstein had been arrested in the Bild leaked document affair. Police are said to have believed that Netanyahu’s answer could help determine whether Urich knowingly destroyed evidence by replacing and wiping his phone after Feldstein’s arrest.

Investigators also wanted to question Netanyahu about a late-night meeting between his former chief of staff, Tzachi Braverman, and Feldstein before the latter’s arrest, the network adds. Feldstein has alleged that Braverman warned him about the investigation into the leak of a classified military document to Germany’s Bild newspaper and suggested he could stop the probe, an allegation Braverman denies.

In the recordings, police investigators repeatedly stress that they need only a short statement from the prime minister, while Netanyahu’s chief of staff, Ido Norden, can be heard responding that Netanyahu is too busy and postpones scheduling his testimony.

“I don’t even have a second to discuss this. We don’t have time. It’s irrelevant. Let’s get organized, and maybe we’ll figure it out,” Norden can be heard saying, to the investigator’s frustration.

Investigators also spoke to Netanyahu’s adviser, Nevo Katz, and were met with similar responses.