The evidentiary phase in the trial of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will begin tomorrow in the presence of all the defendants, including the prime minister.
The Israel Hayom newspaper reported Sunday morning that the hearing will be opened by a speech by the head of the prosecution and the State Attorney, Adv. Liat Ben-Ari. Ben-Ari is expected to deliver a half-hour speech that will focus mainly on the media, in which she will repeat the prosecution's claims that these are serious charges and offenses committed in the course of the prime minister's job, using his governmental power in a deliberate, orderly and continuous manner.
Following this, the testimony phase for the main witness in Case 4000, Walla CEO Ilan Yeshua, will begin. The State Attorney's Office is expected to question him for six hearings, after which he will be cross-examined by the defense teams.
In Case 4000, Prime Minister Netanyahu is suspected of colluding with Shaul Elovich in a bribery offense, in which, in exchange for regulatory benefits that Netanyahu allegedly granted, he received sympathetic coverage through Alovich on the Walla website.
In recent days, it was revealed that the prosecution had a phone which contained calls which were deleted by key witness Yeshua. The defense sought for a long time to access the phone for examination, but the prosecution refused. Eventually a compromise was reached to allow the cell phone to be examined by a defense expert at the prosecutor's office.
Among the deleted conversations is also evidence that the defense sees as qualifying evidence in which Elowitz's wife, Iris Elowitz, is heard telling Yeshua that she does not want the site to be right-wing or left-wing, but to be objective.
The cases will be conducted in the order requested by the State Attorney's Office for Cases 4000, 2000, and 1000.