‘She’d look like a sumo wrestler’: Netanyahu denies wife downed 160 cases of bubbly

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, testifying in his ongoing corruption trial on Monday, ridiculed claims that his wife received 160 cases of champagne from one of the premier’s billionaire supporters, telling the court that “if she drank it all, she’d look like a sumo wrestler.”

Billionaire moviemaker Arnon Milchan “bathes in champagne, he drinks champagne with every meal, his basement was full of champagne, he would give everyone champagne,” Netanyahu pressed on.

Sara Netanyahu “received a fraction of that — a fraction,” he said.

The prime minister denied that he and his wife had received any improper gifts from Milchan, for whom he is accused of pushing favorable legislation in a possible quid pro quo.

He “gave me cigars as a friend. I never asked him to. He would come and give them to me,” the premier told the court, adding that the Hollywood producer gave champagne to the late former prime minister Shimon Peres as well.

Netanyahu also dismissed claims by witness Hadas Klein, who worked as an aide to Milchan, that Sara harassed and threatened her and tried to get her fired.

“I never once saw Sara yell at her. What I saw was all ‘lovey dovey,’” the prime minister claimed, asserting that Klein would address his wife in writing as “Sara, my love.”

Klein said in a television interview earlier this year that the premier’s wife once threatened to take her own life and leave a note saying it was because of Klein and Milchan.

She also claimed that Sara Netanyahu once shouted at her, demanding a specific sort of champagne and cigars from Milchan.

‘I have no authority, I have no active role’

The indictment in Case 1000, one of the three cases for which the prime minister is on trial, alleges that Netanyahu abused his power by assisting Milchan’s application for a long-term US visa, advancing legislation that could have given Milchan tax breaks, and promoting a merger between the Keshet and Reshet broadcasting companies that would have benefited Milchan — while receiving lavish gifts from him.

Asked by his lawyer, Amit Hadad, in court on Monday whether the Keshet-Reshet merger was ever realized, Netanyahu said it was not, and denied that he — or, for that matter, Milchan — had any say over the matter.

“The merger wasn’t realized, the two [companies] haven’t reached commercial agreements between them. Milchan wasn’t involved. The decisions on the matter didn’t get to me, it was parked in the Communications Ministry and I have no authority over the matter,” he testified.

Netanyahu also claimed that the Second Authority for Television and Radio — a government body that would be play a role in approving the merger — is “hostile” to him.

Hadad raised comments Netanyahu made when he was being questioned by police, in which he said he had talked to Milchan about the latter’s desire to enter the Israeli media business.

“I have no authority, I have no active role — this was a preliminary, nascent conversation between two people,” Netanyahu responded. “It was a topic of conversation. How does such a thing get into an indictment? It’s astounding, simply astounding.”

“What interested me,” Netanyahu continued, “was to change the lack of diversity, and the crazy monolithic nature of the media networks,” explaining that Milchan simply agreed with him about the state of Israeli media, but was not soliciting any improper collaboration to change it.

The prime minister cited coverage of his own recent statement to the High Court of Justice, surrounding his government’s effort to fire Shin Bet head Ronen Bar, as a “living example” of media bias in Israel, falsely claiming: “Not one of these networks published a single word from my statement!”

When Hadad quoted from Section 46 of the indictment — which suggests that Netanyahu summoned Shlomo Filber, whom he had recently appointed as Communications Ministry director, shortly after the conversation with Milchan and at a late hour of the night — Netanyahu denied that Filber was summoned at an unusual hour, and denied directing him to get involved in the merger.

The prime minister affirmed Filber’s own account to investigators, that “Netanyahu did not instruct me to act on the matter.”

Filber, in February, filed a lawsuit demanding millions of shekels in compensation from former attorney general Avichai Mandelblit and former state attorney Shai Nitzan, as well as several state agencies, for sexual assault he says he suffered before agreeing to testify in Netanyahu’s trial.

Bereaved families protest in court

At one point on Monday, when the court took a break, protesters at the trial shouted at Netanyahu and accused him of abandoning hostages held captive by terror groups in the Gaza Strip.

“You’re abandoning 59 hostages to death in tunnels — they don’t have champagne and cigars!” shouted Ayala Metzger, the daughter-in-law of slain captive Yoram Metzger, and Assaf Agmon, whose grandson, combat medic Sgt. Gur Kehati, was killed in Lebanon last November.

Likud spokesman Guy Levy responded, “He can’t free them because he’s here [in court].”

Terror groups continue to hold captive 24 hostages who are known or believed to be alive, as well as the bodies of 35 who have been confirmed dead by the military.

All but one of the hostages — Lt. Hadar Goldin, a soldier who was killed in Gaza in 2014 — were kidnapped by terrorists during the Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which started the ongoing war.

במנהרות אין סיגרים! אילה מצגר ותאל במיל. אסף אגמון קוראים לעבר רהמ pic.twitter.com/K2EooZzXvN

— Tamar Almog | תמר אלמוג (@almog_tamar) April 28, 2025

Also raised at the hearing Monday was Netanyahu’s request to shorten his testimony the next day in order to attend an event for Memorial Day, which begins at sundown Tuesday.

Scolded for not making the request earlier, Hadad said that the request was filed a week ago.

“For events known in advance, please file the request in advance,” responded Judge Rivka Friedman-Feldman, who decided that Tuesday’s hearing will begin at 9 a.m. and end at 1:30 p.m.

Next week, the hearings will conclude at 5 p.m., she said.

Three more hearings remain, in which Hadad will question Netanyahu on behalf of the defense, after which the prosecution will begin its cross-examination.

The charges

Netanyahu is on trial in three corruption cases. He faces charges of fraud and breach of trust in Case 1000 and Case 2000, and charges of bribery, as well as fraud and breach of trust in Case 4000.

Case 1000 revolves around allegations that Netanyahu and wife Sara received expensive gifts illicitly from Milchan worth some NIS 700,000 ($191,000), and that Netanyahu violated conflict of interest laws when he provided Milchan with assistance in renewing his long-term US residency visa and sought to help him with tax issues.

In Case 2000, the prime minister is accused of fraud and breach of trust over his alleged attempt to reach a quid pro quo agreement with the publisher of the Yedioth Aharaonot newspaper Arnon (Noni) Mozes, whereby Yedioth would give the prime minister more positive media coverage in exchange for legislation weakening its key rival, the Israel Hayom free sheet.

Case 4000, also known as the Bezeq-Walla case, is the most serious the prime minister faces, in which he is accused of authorizing regulatory decisions that financially benefited Bezeq telecommunications giant shareholder Elovitch by hundreds of millions of shekels. In return, Netanyahu allegedly received favorable media coverage from the Walla news site, which Elovitch also owned.

Netanyahu denies wrongdoing and claims the charges were fabricated in a political coup led by the police and state prosecution. In his testimony, the premier has clashed with judges and railed against the media, which he says is biased against him.