The Jerusalem District Court on Monday morning held a hearing in the trial of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
At the hearing, former Walla! news CEO Ilan Yeshua, a central witness in Case 4000, gave testimony in a counter-interrogation.
According to the Haaretz report, during the hearing, Yeshua claimed that he did not know that coverage in Netanyahu's favor is a criminal act.
According to the report, Yeshua confirmed to attorney Hen that the Walla! attorney, who he asked advice from with regards to the legal aspects of providing coverage on the site, told him that, "The owner of a newspaper has the right not to anger the Prime Minister."
Yeshua, it was claimed, Reli Leshem following the Haaretz report, which showed that Walla! coverage favored Netanyahu and connected it to Bezeq, providing him with correspondence between himself and Nir Hefetz. He said that "after he heard everything, he said that the owners have a right to do this, meaning it is legal, but it is better not to," Hen said.
Hen reportedly said: "You didn't think that these were criminal actions that you were involved with, because otherwise there would be no talk about how much." Yeshua responded: "Absolutely."
When asked why he did not discuss the advisory meeting with Shaul Elovitch, Yeshua reportedly said: "I didn't think he would like that I'm taking legal advice from Leshem on issues that he did. His interests and mine were not identical."