From the Liveblog of
Thursday, February 1, 2024
State attorney closes cases against Walla, Yedioth; Netanyahu trial not affected
Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter
The State Attorney’s Office closes the investigations against the Walla news company and Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper connected to criminal cases against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
But the Bezeq telecommunications company, which had been controlled by former Walla chairman Shaul Elovitch, will pay a small fine of some NIS 800,000 as part of an agreement reached with the State Attorney’s Office owing to administrative violations related to one of the cases.
Under the agreement with the State Attorney’s Office, Bezeq will admit to offering misleading information about a procedure that had not been performed as was required by law.
The State Attorney’s Office says the decision to close the cases was made “after examining the allegations in a hearing and considering the totality of the circumstances, including those relating to the public interest – the complexity resulting from conducting the central case [against Netanyahu and Elovitch], and the delay until a decision is made on that matter.”
Netanyahu trials on charges of fraud, breach of trust and bribery are not impacted by the decisions regarding Bezeq, Walla and Yedioth, and are continuing as usual, the State Attorney’s Office said.
Elovitch’s trial on charges of bribing Netanyahu with favorable coverage from Walla will also not be affected by today’s developments, nor will that of Yedioth publisher Arnon Mozes, who also been indicted for allegedly offering Netanyahu a quid pro quo for positive coverage.
Walla and Bezeq came under suspicion of criminal violations in the context of Case 4000, in which the prime minister is suspected of having provided regulatory benefits to Bezeq shareholder and former chairman of the board Elovitch worth hundreds of millions of shekels, and in return received favorable media coverage from the Walla news site, also owned by Elovitch at the time. He was charged with bribery in the case, as well as the lesser charges of fraud and breach of trust, which he faces in two other cases.
Yedioth came under suspicion in Case 2000, in which Netanyahu is accused of attempting to obtain more favorable coverage from the news outlet in return for passing legislation which would weaken Yedioth’s rival newspaper Israel Hayom.
