Netanyahu decries ‘biased leaks’ over scandal with publisher

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed allegations against him as a “campaign of biased leaks” Sunday, responding to the publication of transcripts of recordings in which he can be heard negotiating a deal with a publisher for better coverage in exchange for pushing a law that would have reduced the circulation of a rival newspaper.

Speaking at a meeting of Likud ministers Sunday morning, Netanyahu said the reports on his conversation with Yedioth Ahronoth publisher Arnon Mozes were meant “to mislead the public and distort the truth as if there were [criminal] offenses when there were not,” according to Hebrew-language reports.

The comments came as Mozes was questioned by police for a second time Sunday morning over the affair.

The police’s interrogation of Mozes followed Channel 2’s publication Saturday evening of part of the 2014 recordings in which the prime minister discusses which journalists are unacceptably hostile to him and the newspaper mogul ponders how to marginalize them, in the latest dramatic developments in a corruption investigation that threatens Netanyahu’s hold on power.

The prime minister is set to be questioned by police for a third time later this week over the affair as well as another involving gifts received from businessmen.

Referring to a Tel Aviv protest Saturday night that called for his ouster in light of the police investigations, Netanyahu cautioned, “Don’t be so quick with your celebrations.”

The prime minister also said, “There will be nothing [found] because there is nothing,” a mantra he has repeated numerous times since the allegations began to surface.

Excerpts from transcripts of the conversations broadcast on Saturday night featured Netanyahu declaring that what he expects under the deal with Yedioth is “moderation” in its coverage of him, “to reduce the level of hostility to me from 9.5 to 7.5.”

Mozes replies: “That’s clear to me. I got it. We have to ensure that you’ll (continue to be) prime minister.”

Other previously released excerpts have featured the two men discussing how to pass legislation that would reduce the reach of the free daily Israel Hayom, Yedioth’s competitor — Netanyahu’s alleged side of the bargain.

In an excerpt quoted earlier this week, Mozes set out the terms of the deal to Netanyahu as follows: “If we can come to an agreement on the law, I will do all I can to make sure you stay here (in power) as long as you want. I’m looking you in the eye, and saying this as clearly as I can.”

No deal between the two was ever implemented as far as is known, and Netanyahu has denied any wrongdoing.

Netanyahu is said to have told police investigators, when questioned under caution, that he recorded the conversations because he believed Mozes was trying to extort him. He never had so much as “half an intention” of implementing any such deal, Channel 2 on Saturday quoted Netanyahu as insisting.

But the nature of the conversations, the TV report said, make it clear that Netanyahu was negotiating entirely “practically,” in a “pleasant atmosphere,” with the media mogul.

Leaks from the Netanyahu-Mozes conversations on Friday showed Netanyahu hesitated in finalizing a deal with Mozes because he was worried about crossing Sheldon Adelson, the US casino mogul who he referred to as “the gingy” (redhead) in the secret recordings. Adelson bankrolls Israel Hayom and is thought to direct its pro-Netanyahu outlook.

In a second corruption case against Netanyahu, regarding cigars, champagne and other gifts he and his wife Sara allegedly received from Israeli film producer Arnon Milchan, the TV report Saturday said Netanyahu has acknowledged to friends that, as previously reported, he asked Secretary of State John Kerry to help secure a long-term US visa for Milchan.

The very fact that he made the request, Netanyahu is said to have told friends, shows that there was nothing secretive or illicit about it; it was just the kind of favor one does for good friends.

Analysts have said indictments are possible in both cases, and some have begun to see the twin scandals as the possible end of Netanyahu’s nearly eight years in power.

Lawmakers in Netanyahu’s Likud party have indicated some are starting to make preparations for the “day after.”

Unnamed coalition sources quoted by Channel 2 said should Netanyahu be charged, coalition leaders will begin pushing for the prime minister to suspend himself, though not before.

Opposition lawmakers on Saturday castigated Netanyahu’s alleged attempts to cut a deal for favorable coverage with Yedioth, with one ex-minister saying he had “come to the end of the road,” and a Labor MK calling him “the first mafia prime minister of Israel.”