Trial judges indicate that Bibi didn't bribe
What led the judges to their conclusion? Will Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara accept their recommendation? Will Netanyahu get off the hook, or pay with his career? Will the overzealous police investigators, prosecutors, and the media who declared Netanyahu guilty before being proven innocent continue with business as usual? And how will the latest development impact the bigger picture of judicial reform?
The bribery charge leveled against Prime Minister Netanyahu was always farfetched. Prosecutors, in a suit known as Case 4000, accused Netanyahu of promoting a merger between the Bezeq phone company and Yes, a leading satellite TV provider. In exchange, Netanyahu was to receive favorable media coverage on Walla, a Bezeq subsidiary and popular news website that was consistently antagonistic to him.
Even if such an arrangement were discussed, there is no legal precedent that clamoring for better coverage is bribery. Trust me, I’ve been in journalism for close to 30 years, and politicians are always angling for positive press, and the only quid pro quo you might get is slightly better access. Walla’s editor-in-chief and a trio of their top political reporters testified they had no direct contact with Netanyahu regarding coverage. Defense attorneys combed through 315 cases in which Walla reportedly wrote something favorable about Bibi and found that the vast majority originated from official government press releases widely distributed to all media outlets.
Prosecutors also alleged Netanyahu committed a breach of trust by ousting the director-general of the Ministry of Communications, who opposed the merger, in favor of his own pro-merger appointee. This is true, but the defense proved there were overriding professional considerations in play. Netanyahu understood the urgency of rolling out infrastructure for Israel’s fiber optic and 5G networks, which are vital to Israel’s economic development and security. The ousted director-general wanted to open this market to competition, while others felt that this was a waste of time, because only Bezeq possessed adequate infrastructure and financial wherewithal to fast-track it.
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