
Dr. Yifat Ben Hai-Segev, former chair of the Cable and Satellite Comittee prosecution committee in the Netanyahu trial, dropped a bomb today (Tuesday) in her testimony in 'Case 4000' against Netanyahu in the Jerusalem District Court.
Dr. Yifat said: "I committed to telling the truth - the investigation I went through was amateurish, careless and biased, while instilling fear and dread in unacceptable human conditions that should trouble every citizen in the country." The prosecution asked to declare her a hostile witness.
The prosecution witness also said at the trial of prime minister-designate Netanyahu: "I have been waiting for a very long time to tell the truth."
Prosecutor Yehudit Tirosh Gross read statements that Ben Hai had made to the police: "You told police you said that you didn't talk to Avi Berger that much. I don't remember that anything changed in the way Avi Berger functions, and he was very careful about the separation and independence of the Cable and Satellite Council. The wholesale market is not affected by the Cable Committee, that is left to the consideration of the minister and Berger did not talk to me about it. Now I ask you to explain - you say there was an intervention by Avi Berger that made things better, but you never talked to him about it?"
Ben Chai replied: "I said that the answer is complex. Berger was very careful about the separation. I stand by the fact that in the matter of the Bezek-Weiss merger there was definitely interference (on the part of Berger) and I will explain the apparent discrepancy between the two statements. I am very sorry to say that the investigation I went through was a careless and biased amateur investigation, focused on instilling fear, and in unacceptable human conditions that should concern every citizen in Israel. The court will find that my statements at the time were the result of deception and things taken out of context, and when I asked the investigation for the right to look at the documents because I knew that the things I was being told were not true, I was met with a complete refusal. After the investigation I returned to the documents and to my documentation and I found that the gaslighting they tried on me in the investigation was partially successful, but they did not succeed in erasing my memory."
Tirosh asked to declare Ben Chai-Segev a hostile witness. "There is general hostility on her part. She adds things to the story. There are significant changes in parts of her testimony to the police," said Tirosh. "She didn't tell about a meeting that she remembers well. The very fact that she opposed the change is significant."
The judges rejected the request to declare her a hostile witness, but will allow the prosecution to cross-examine her and submit the things she said during her police interrogation to the court, as was done in the Filber case. Tirosh asked for a break until tomorrow morning to prepare for the cross-examination, but the judges refused.