Netanyahu trial: Pilber testifies for the last time Israel today

Completion of an investigation by the State Attorney's Office in the testimony of state witness Shlomo Pilber is expected to take place today (Wednesday), and if there are no last-minute delays, his testimony will also end today.

Already at the beginning of Pilber's testimony, repetitions and sometimes even contradictions were discovered in what he said to the police, on which an agreement was based on the state, and in what he said in court.

Prosecutor Adv. Yehudit Tirosh asked for and received from the court the possibility of cross-examining him, without declaring him a hostile witness. In fact, the declaration had no practical significance because a hostile witness was actually cross-examined. The state and file an indictment against him.

However one thing can be said with certainty and that is that Pilber is not considered to be credible, to say the least.

In one of the hearings, Advocate Tirosh even stated that he was committed to everything the defense told him. He also testified in the 1,000 case, where he recounted a number of meetings that Netanyahu held at his request with Milchen.

The attempt to correct the indictment was the shaky incident in his testimony.

Pilbar today, Photo: Oren Ben Hakon

Apparently, the most notable and tumultuous event in Pilber's testimony was the motion that was denied to amend the indictment regarding the instruction meeting.

At that meeting, it was alleged, Netanyahu ordered Pilber to do good with Bezeq through a reduction in prices, approval of the Bezeq-Yis merger and further regulation, and it serves as a cornerstone for the entire 4,000 portfolio.

Netanyahu's defense attorney Adv. Boaz Ben-Zur was able to prove through correspondence from Pilber's cell phone, through placements and the prime minister's meeting diary, that the facilitation meeting could not take place after Pilber was appointed director general of the Ministry of Communications, as described in the indictment.

The directive meeting, which the defense apologized for, could not take place until the meeting with Bezeq's strategic adviser, Eli Kamir, which was made, according to Pilber, following the directive he received from Netanyahu.

The prosecution argued that the meeting had taken place, but sought to amend the date which was adjourned by the court.

The next witness to testify briefly this coming Monday is Shai Haik, who was one of Netanyahu's spokesmen.

His testimony is related to the fan coverage that Netanyahu allegedly received from the Walla website in exchange for regulatory benefits that benefited Bezeq and the group's owners, Shaul Alovich, as described in the indictment.

Haik was supposed to testify earlier, but due to his illness in Corona he is now testifying and is supposed to close the evidence stage in case 4,000.

Immediately after that, the testimony of Hadas Klein, Arnon Milchen's assistant, who according to the indictment in the 1,000 case, handed over various gifts to Sarah and Benjamin Netanyahu in the form of champagne, cigars and valuable jewelry, is expected to begin.

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