Prosecutors conducting ‘in-depth review’ of phone hacking claim in Netanyahu trial

State prosecutors said Thursday they were carrying out an “in-depth review” of allegations of unauthorized phone hacking of a key individual involved in the criminal trial of former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The review will examine the police claim that all use of hacking programs during their investigations was executed legally under a court order.

The prosecution has updated the attorneys of defendants in the cases on the inquiry.

The announcement by prosecutors came after reports alleging the unauthorized use of hacking programs by the Israel Police in order to gain access to 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.

Case 4000, the most severe of the three cases against the former prime minister, alleges that Netanyahu advanced regulatory decisions as communications minister and prime minister that immensely benefited Walla owner Shaul Elovitch, the controlling shareholder in Bezeq, the country’s largest telecommunications firm, despite opposition from the Communication Ministry’s career officials. In exchange, he allegedly was given what amounted to editorial control over Elovitch’s Walla news site.

Lawyers for Bezeq and Elovitch have said that if the reported allegations were true, they would constitute “a grave crime” and there would be serious consequences in court.

Channel 12 aired patchy voice recordings in which police investigators seem to be discussing hacking a person’s phone, just before conducting an interview with Filber.

The reports came as police reel from accusations that they had repeatedly used hacking software from the NSO Group and others to break into citizens’ phones illegally.

The report did not say whether NSO’s Pegasus program was allegedly used in the Netanyahu case.

Channel 13 reported that the revelation was made as part of an ongoing Justice Ministry inquiry into the NSO affair.

The allegations could cause serious delays in Netanyahu’s trial, as the opposition leader’s lawyers may demand to review the new revelations and take action over them. Netanyahu on Wednesday described the allegations as “an earthquake.”

He tweeted: “An earthquake: This evening it was revealed that police illegally hacked phones in order to bring down a strong right-wing prime minister.”

Likud’s Knesset faction chief Yariv Levin termed the revelations “a giant Watergate affair, here in Israel.”

Netanyahu faces charges of fraud and breach of trust in cases 1000 and 2000, and charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust in Case 4000. He has denied all wrongdoing and claims the charges were fabricated by a biased police force and state prosecution, led by a weak attorney general, and backed by leftist politicians and the media.