Police said to have tapped suspects’ phones in Bezeq investigation

Legal authorities reportedly wiretapped the phones of several suspects in an investigation into Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s suspected efforts to sway news coverage of himself and his family.

The attorney general approved the wiretaps after Ilan Yeshua, the CEO of the Walla news site, gave detailed testimony to the Israel Securities Authority in December 2017, the Yedioth Ahronoth daily reported Sunday.

Yeshua’s testimony was gathered as part of Case 4000, which involves suspicions that the controlling shareholder of the telecommunications giant Bezeq, Shaul Elovitch, ordered the Walla news site, which he owns, to grant positive coverage to Netanyahu and his family in exchange for the prime minister advancing regulations benefiting Elovitch.

The report did not name the suspects whose conversations were tapped. It said the suspects were under surveillance at a time when they believed the investigation could no longer affect them — after the ISA had officially concluded its own probe and before the Israel Police announced it was reopening the case.

Yeshua gave testimony on eight occasions, said the Yedioth report, which also quoted law enforcement sources as saying, “It seemed as though he was really eager to unburden himself.”

The investigation has gathered steam in the past week, following the arrest of a number of high-profile aides to Netanyahu and executives at Bezeq.

Shlomo Filber, the suspended director-general of the Communications Ministry and a longtime Netanyahu confidant, signed a deal Tuesday to turn state’s witness and possibly incriminate the prime minister in the affair.

Filber had his remand extended on Wednesday by 15 days, and is to stay during that time at a facility in an undisclosed location while police continue questioning him.

Netanyahu was acting communications minister at the time when several allegedly illicit deals were made with Elovitch, one of which included helping Bezeq buy the satellite cable provider Yes, overriding antitrust issues raised by ministry officials. The prime minister, who is reportedly suspected of furthering that deal, denies any wrongdoing, as does Elovitch.

Israeli television reported Friday that Sara Netanyahu, the premier’s wife, pushed to have the editor of Walla, the news site at the center of the scandal, fired. In a WhatsApp message released by Channel 10 news, Sara Netanyahu asked Iris Elovitch, the wife of the Bezeq and Walla news owner, why editor Aviram Elad had not yet been dismissed.

“It can’t go on like this, I thought we talked about this. This has gone on too long. Why do I need to read on your website about things like this? Do something about this!” Sara Netanyahu wrote in the message.

Earlier last week, Channel 10 reported that Yeshua, the Walla CEO, had told police the Netanyahus had asked Shaul Elovitch to fire Elad. Iris Elovitch, who is herself a suspect in the case, criticized the publication of the WhatsApp message in a response to Channel 10.

“This is a prohibited and serious leak that distorts reality, while systematically ignoring important facts that weren’t presented [that] would prove that Iris Elovitch didn’t commit any offense,” she said in a statement.

The prime minister also slammed “biased and deceptive leaks” in response to the report.

“This is another transparent attempt to harm the prime minister using biased and deceptive leaks regarding his wife. Despite the wild behavior and lack of constraint that reached new heights in the last week, the truth will win and Prime Minister Netanyahu will continue to lead the state responsibility and ensure its security,” read a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office.

In portions of Yeshua’s testimony reported on by Hadashot TV news Friday, he described the Elovitch family as a “crime family.”

“Elovitch says he wanted to make Walla a right-wing nationalist site. That’s a lie,” Yeshua was quoted as telling investigators.

“There were times when there were orders to attack Naftali Bennett. We were allowed to write against the right, Likud ministers, [Avigdor Liberman], everyone — just not against Bibi, Sara and the son,” he reportedly added, apparently referring to the couple’s eldest son Yair.

The report said that Yeshua had also recorded conversations he had with Iris Elovitch.

The Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court on Thursday extended the remands of Elovitch and his wife by four days in the quickly ballooning corruption scandal.

Hebrew-language media reported earlier on Thursday that Yeshua had recorded Shaul Elovitch ordering him to slant coverage in favor of Netanyahu and his family. The recordings, handed over by Yeshua to investigators, were said to have been the trigger for Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit’s decision to open the criminal investigation and also for Filber’s decision to turn state witness.

Channel 10 reported Thursday evening that in one of the recordings, Elovitch can be heard saying the favorable coverage of Netanyahu has consequences for Bezeq’s interests and that it would affect the company’s fate, strengthening the bribery suspicion.

Other investigations

On Friday, Hadashot TV news reported Netanyahu would likely be questioned this week in Case 4000, as well as in another case involving alleged graft in naval deals called Case 3000.

In that investigation, police are investigating suspected corruption surrounding a multi-billion-shekel purchase of submarines and other naval vessels from a German shipbuilder. While Netanyahu has not been named as a suspect, close associates of his, including his two personal lawyers, have been arrested or questioned.

Netanyahu last week was linked to another affair, dubbed Case 1270, which involves his former family spokesman Nir Hefetz allegedly offering in 2015 to have judge Hila Gerstel appointed attorney general if she agreed to halt an investigation into the prime minister’s wife, Sara. Netanyahu, who has not been named as a suspect in the case, has strongly denied having anything to do with the incident, and said he thought it highly unlikely that Hefetz had advanced any such idea.

Earlier this month, police recommended that Netanyahu be indicted for fraud, breach of trust, and bribery in two other cases.

In Case 1000, Netanyahu and his wife are alleged to have received illicit gifts from billionaire benefactors, most notably the Israeli-born Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan, totaling NIS 1 million ($282,000). In return, Netanyahu is alleged by police to have intervened on Milchan’s behalf in matters relating to legislation, business dealings, and visa arrangements.

Case 2000 involves a suspected illicit quid pro quo deal between Netanyahu and Yedioth Ahronoth publisher Arnon Mozes that would have seen the prime minister weaken a rival daily, the Sheldon Adelson-backed Israel Hayom, in return for more favorable coverage from Yedioth.

Netanyahu has denied any wrongdoing in all the cases.