At the conclusion of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s testimony in his corruption trial, he addressed what he described as hostile coverage from the Walla news site a decade ago.
Netanyahu is facing charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust in the most serious of the three cases against him, reported The Times of Israel.
Prosecutors allege that his aides influenced Walla’s editorial stance to favor him in return for benefits granted to Shaul Elovitch, the controlling shareholder of Bezeq, which owned Walla at the time.
Specifically, the prosecution claims this arrangement was reached during a 2012 dinner hosted by Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, with Elovitch. Netanyahu denies the allegations, stating, “There was no agreement, no bribery, no nothing. Even after the dinner.”
Netanyahu asserts that Walla’s coverage was highly antagonistic toward him and did not improve afterward. He referenced the site's nickname, “Walla akbar,” a pun on the Arabic phrase “Allahu akbar” (God is Greatest), as well as terms like “Walla Hamas” and “Walla Iran,” implying that the site’s editorial stance was overtly critical and aligned with Israel’s adversaries.
He further dismissed the prosecution’s case as baseless: “The entire case hinges on this absurd idea of a supposed telepathic agreement that never happened. You also saw the terrible coverage I received. The claim that I got special treatment is unfounded. There was no change in Walla’s treatment of me before or after the dinner.”