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Former: "We would not have published the articles about Sarah Netanyahu if we had not been asked"

Aviram Elad described on the witness stand the frustration of the former CEO's political intervention in the news content, as part of the trial of the opposition leader, accused of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. He is the second witness in the 4000 case, which opened more than six months ago.

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• Benjamin Netanyahu

• Aviram Elad

• File 4000

Yael Friedson

Monday, 18 October 2021, 12:10 Updated: 12:33

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In the video: Walla!

Former Aviram Elad in court during his testimony in the 4000 case (Photo: Roni Knafo, editor: Tal Reznik)

Testimony of Aviram Elad, former editor-in-chief of the Walla! In 2018-2016, it continues today (Monday) in the Jerusalem District Court in the 4000 case. This is the fourth day for the testimony of Elad, the second witness to testify at the trial of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after the testimony of the first witness, former Walla! Ilan CEO Yeshua, stretched over 33 hearings over a six-month period, during which Yeshua explained the influence of Netanyahu, who is accused of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, on the site's media coverage of the years he ran it.

In today's hearing, Adv. Elowitz, wife of Shaul Elowitz, former owner of the Bezeq-Walla! Investigated Elad regarding the incident of the intervention of former Walla! CEO Ilan Yeshua, in an article covering Eyal Golan - an intervention that angered Gadi Lahav, the site's editor-in-chief at the beginning of the decade, when he himself was head of the newsroom.

Rosen-Ozer presented Elad with correspondence between Yeshua and Lahav showing interventions of Yeshua, and Elad clarified that as head of the news system he knew about every item that appeared in the news, but did not know what was happening on the site's other content channels.

More on Walla!

Testimony of Walla!

Former Aviram Elad in the 4000 case continues today

To the full article

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Aviram Elad in court, today (Photo: Flash 90, Yonatan Zindel)

Judge Rebecca Friedman-Feldman found it difficult to understand Rosen-Ozer's questions.

"How can he remember beyond this correspondence that he is not a party to?" She wondered.

Advocate Rosen-Ozer replied: "Everything he can know there can be inquiries to the editor-in-chief that he does not know about."

Defense counsel continued to investigate Elad. "Gadi Lahav left at the end of November 2012. Elad replied that he did not remember this. Afterwards, Rosen-Ozer read in the hall part of Elad's testimony to the police regarding Ben-Ovadia. "From my conversations with her after her resignation, she told me several times that she could not live with Ilan's influence, Walla would not go far with this conduct. She took this incident very hard," and Elad confirmed things. "You are also a human being, people remember events better when they are close, so your memory in 2018 was sharper than it is today," Rosen-Ozer teased him.

Adv. Rosen-Ozer went on to interrogate Elad about Yinon Magal's period as editor-in-chief after Ben-Ovadia, and presented him with an email he sent to Salvation after Operation Eitan, in which he rebuked senior members of the site. Websites all the time and especially Walla !, we are probably better at live broadcasts but at the deep editing pace - Ynet makes us a school, "Yeshua wrote. Elad explained:" Yeshua's reference is matter-of-fact, to the technique of a website. They do not address [questions like] Are we in favor of someone or against someone for truce or ceasefire against, but in general style, "he said.

Rosen-helper introduced another e-mail, sent at 04:00 am, at salvation Scolds the coverage of the ceasefire in the operation, and writes that "the knowledge of [Amir] Tibon (Walla!'S political correspondent at the time - YF) is really childish and superficial and does not look good."

: "There is no discussion here, but how it is presented to the surfer, is it understandable, does it stimulate the surfer to click on the article and spend more time on it."

: "Isn't this childish and superficial intervention in the content?".

: "To me, she describes the situation."

"She said she could not live with the influence of Ilan Yeshua."

Tali Ben Ovadia (Photo: Niv Aharonson)

Rosen-Ozer: "Confirm to me that not only Yeshua criticizes the content but also Shai Magal" (who served as the company's deputy CEO at the time - YF).

Elad suggested some examples of comments that came from the two. "[Things like] how to update The main thing, why there is a gap from Ynet, why we do not have this or that knowledge.

I have had correspondence with Shay wave, especially [context] Technical around questions such as why Ynet rising faster than us, "he said.

Rosen-assistant:" Something like why there is no coverage of the ceasefire ".

Elad:" Yes, but from a place of comparison Between sites. "

"CEO should not interfere in content at all"

Advocate Rosen-Ozer questioned Elad about the frustration felt by Yinon Magal, who served as its editor-in-chief, regarding Yeshua's interventions in the content, and Elad explained that "this is what happens when you look at an Internet site [not] a journalistic one. There was tension between the internet affair presented by Yeshua and Shai Magal, and Yinon Magal who looked at it as a journalist. "

Rosen-Ozer asked to show Yeshua's intense intervention on the site, and presented a message that Elad sent him protesting Yeshua's intervention." Tell us we Not diligent after we give our soul for Walla! It's just insulting, to check us on every item is a basic mistrust, "Elad wrote to Yeshua in a statement.

In addition, Rosen-Ozer also introduced a WhatsApp group that included senior members of the site: CEO Yeshua, VP Shai Magal, VP Ido Eshed, and Udi Hirsch, in which Yeshua demanded to be updated on any news department mistakes and "download commands" through VPs. Yeshua wrote, among other things, "The gloves came off this morning after Aviram's arrogant answers, it's impossible to comment on these guys," and also: "For my part there will be 10 comments an hour, I will not get any gesture or walking on tiptoe." Elad said he did not know the group, but explained that "the thing that bothered me the most was the political intervention, the interventions. I was certainly not satisfied with the entry into our territory. The CEO should not interfere in the content at all, but there is a difference between agenda and intervention. About what the site looks like. "

Rosen-Ozer then questioned Elad about coverage of events related to the Netanyahu family, coverage of Yair Netanyahu's non-Jewish society, and various events with Sarah Netanyahu's participation, such as lighting candles with Holocaust survivors and a fun day with cancer patients.

: I understand that in your opinion, the articles that cover the work of Mrs. Sarah Netanyahu - have no journalistic importance, so you as a journalist do not want to publish.

: In these cases, those specific articles, we would not have come up if we had not been asked.

Elad described the system of journalistic considerations, in response to the question of whether there was a journalistic justification for publishing the news about Sarah Netanyahu.

"First of all it depends on the timing, the question of when it happens, do I have enough articles that day or do I lack an article to fill the lineup. It could be that the public interest is rising following events that have taken place," he explained.

"We would not have uploaded the articles about her if we had not been asked."

Sarah Netanyahu (Photo: Reuven Castro)

Rosen-Ozer then asked for Elad to comment on the recording of Sarah Netanyahu's psychological conversation in 2018. "This is a recording in which Sarah Netanyahu is heard in a private moment, did you think she would be harmed by the recording of the tape? "It must be an advertisement she will not be pleased with." Rosen-Ozer quoted Elad's reference to the publication of the recording from his testimony to the police, in which he told investigators that the publication of the recording was a "sweet moment."

Rosen-Assistant: Was that sweet?

Elad: "Certainly, after we were, after the censorship, we could suddenly publish for journalistic reasons. It was a dramatic change compared to the previous period, within the atmosphere that was, so we could publish it."

In his testimony in the prosecution case, the former witness, former site CEO Ilan Yeshua, described the unusual response to the demands of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his family, and how the requests were made at the request of the couple Shaul and Iris Elowitz, former controlling shareholders of the Bezeq-Walla! Bribery, in order to advance Elovich's economic interests.

Shaul Alovich (Photo: Flash 90, Yonatan Zindel)

What is Netanyahu accused of?

In the 1000 case

(the benefit benefits case), Netanyahu is accused of receiving benefits worth about NIS 700,000 from businessmen Arnon Milchen and James Packer, while he served as prime minister. The main gifts were cigars, champagne packages and jewelry.

In addition, it was alleged that Netanyahu acted in Milchen's favor in three matters, in which the businessman sought his intervention: he approached US Secretary of State John Kerry to extend the businessman's visa, he approached Finance Minister Yair Lapid to extend the exemption. A tax for returning residents, and he worked to promote a merger of "Keshet" and "Reshet" - ostensibly at Milchen's request. According to the lawsuit, these acts damaged the image of the public service and the public's trust in it. In this case, Netanyahu is accused of fraud and breach of trust.

(Netanyahu-Mozes affair) deals with talks between Netanyahu and Yedioth Ahronoth publisher Arnon (Noni) Mozes. Mozes, publisher of the Yedioth Ahronoth group and the newspaper's editor-in-chief is accused of bribery. In those talks, the two allegedly discussed the benefit of the prime minister's coverage in the Yedioth group, in exchange for imposing restrictions on the newspaper's main competitor - "Israel Today." The prosecution is convinced that the person who offered the deal is Moses, so he is accused of bribery. On the other hand, the Attorney General also convinced that Netanyahu did not intend to complete the transaction bribes, but continued talks with Moses to improve coverage in the news, and there specific actions for this purpose. In this case, Netanyahu charged with fraud and breach of trust.

(Bezeq-Walla affair) The most serious case for the prime minister concerns regulatory benefits worth hundreds of millions of shekels, which Netanyahu allegedly granted to Shaul Elowitz, the controlling shareholder in the Eurocom group through which he controlled several public companies, including the Bezeq Group and the Walla !.

Elowitz and his wife Iris Elowitz are accused of bribing and obstructing legal proceedings in return.

According to the indictment, Elovich acted to skew the coverage on the Walla !.

In this case, Netanyahu is accused of taking bribes.

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