Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu testified on Monday in the cases against him. Netanyahu accused the media of acting like a "thought police."
"You turn to all the channels and it's all the same. I knew they would do anything to prevent competition, and would immediately target whoever was appointed. I needed someone who was prepared for that. I knew they would do everything, I didn't know how much," Netanyahu said regarding his appointment of Shlomo Filber as Communications Ministry Director.
He added: "I knew I wouldn't give in and others would. Our democracy was very sick and it still has a lot of problems. Therefore, it was important for me to be the Minister of Communication."
"I wanted to change television as well. Not to close channels like they now want to close Channel 14, that's how they hold on to the throne. I wanted to open the market. In the US it's much easier to open a television network," Netanyahu stated.
Regarding how he chose Filber as director, he stated: "I offered him [the job of] dealing with what's called the internet media. He did a really good job and we circumvented the [mainstream] media, I was impressed by that, it really helped the Likud - all the networks were made less important in those elections and the Walla website was together with them on the bottom of the list. I told him to become the general manager of the Likud but he didn't agree."