Yedioth publisher said to have told police he only met PM to try save the paper

According to TV report quoting leaks from his questioning with investigators, Arnon Mozes says he just wanted PM to end his boycott and give an interview

Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper publisher Arnon “Noni” Mozes reportedly told police during his interrogation that his meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were only intended to convince the prime minister to end a boycott of the paper and were not about a quid pro quo deal, Channel 12 news said on Sunday.

Mozes was investigated in 2017 along with Netanyahu in “Case 2000”, over allegations that Yedioth would receive benefits in exchange for helping the prime minister remain in power.

The investigation focuses on suspicions that Netanyahu and Mozes made an illicit agreement that would have seen the premier economically hobble rival daily Israel Hayom in return for more favorable coverage from Yedioth.

No such agreement was ever implemented.

On Sunday, Channel 12’s legal affairs reporter said he had viewed a transcript of the police questioning that indicated that Mozes had shifted his position during the interrogation after it became clear that police had a recording of his conversations with Netanyahu.

Protesters demonstrate outside the Prime Minister’s Residence as police investigators arrive to question Benjamin Netanyahu on October 5, 2018. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

The reporter noted that he did not have direct quotes, but just a summary reflecting what Mozes had said.

According to the report, Mozes initially said he had discussed US billionaire Sheldon Adelson, a Netanyahu supporter and publisher of Yisrael Hayom, but that legislation that had been mulled at the time to place curbs on the distribution of the free paper, was not on the agenda.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a televised statement after a meeting of his ruling Likud party in Ramat Gan on February 21, 2019. (Menahem Kahana/AFP)

The pro-Netanyahu Yisrael Hayom newspaper which is distributed free of charge, has diminished Yedioth Aharonoth’s market share, although it remains Israel’s top-selling daily newspaper.

When Mozes discovered during questioning that his conversations with Netanyahu had been recorded, he changed tack and told police that the aim of the discussions was to improve the status of his newspaper, not to aid the prime minister.

Arnon Mozes told police that US billionaire Sheldon Adelson (pictured) was a subject of his conversation with Benjamin Netanyahu.(Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Mozes reportedly testified that it was his intention to try to get Netanyahu to end his boycott of Yedioth Aharonoth and grant an interview, as this would also help bolster the newspaper’s financial standing.

Channel 12 added that the two had also discussed which pro-Netanyahu journalists were employed by Yedioth.

A lawyer for Mozes condemned the leaks.

“The media’s interest in the case is clear, but Noni Mozes has refrained from commenting throughout this process on the issues that came up in his questioning. Attempts to pressure the Attorney General though systematic leaks, especially in these times, is forbidden and outrageous,” the statement said.

Reports on Channel 11 and 13 on Friday said that Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit did not appear to be in favor of indicting Netanyahu in Case 2000 and this was at odds with the opinion of senior Justice Ministry officials.

Mandelblit has been ambivalent about filing an indictment against Netanyahu in this particular case. He initially had deep reservations, then adopted prosecutors’ opinions that the prime minister should be indicted, before reverting to his original position, according to the reports.

The attorney general is set to publish his decision whether to charge Netanyahu by the end of this week, reports said on Sunday.

Israel’s national elections will be held on April 9 and Mandelblit is said to have wanted to get his announcement out of the way well before the vote.

The investigation is one of three cases in which police have recommended Netanyahu be indicted.

In Case 1000, Netanyahu is alleged to have received tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of gifts from Arnon Milchan, an Israeli Hollywood producer, and James Packer, an Australian casino mogul. The gifts include champagne, cigars, flights and hotel rooms.

Also on Sunday, Milchan told Channel 12 that he has suffered greatly since the investigations began and that he “wakes up sad and goes to bed sad.”

Arnon Milchan poses for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the film ‘Widows’ showing as part of the opening gala of the BFI London Film Festival in London, Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2018. (Photo by Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP)

“I feel hurt. After two or three years of silence, maybe they will see the harm they have done me. It’s difficult to work and to suffer,” he said, adding that he only works so as not to think about bad things.

“I hope this suffering will end, I don’t wish on anybody the two years that I have had. I have suffered enough,” he said when asked how he thought the investigation would end.

In Case 4000, Netanyahu is suspected of having advanced regulatory decisions as communications minister and prime minister from 2015 to 2017 that benefited Shaul Elovitch, the controlling shareholder in Bezeq, the country’s largest telecommunications firm, in exchange for positive coverage from Elovitch’s Walla news site.

Insisting he has done nothing wrong, Netanyahu has argued that the media, the opposition, and the police are mounting a “witch hunt” against him and relentlessly pushing a “weak” attorney general to indict him in the corruption cases.