Likud Ministers responded this morning (Friday) to the apparent collapse of the bribery charge against Benjamin Netanyahu in Case 4000, which is known as the Bezeq-Walla case.
Justice Minister Yariv Levin said: “The worst political and legal persecution in the country’s history is collapsing. It is impossible not to be shocked by everything that has happened until now, and by what is revealed step by step. Even if it takes years – the truth must come to light.”
Information Minister Galit Distel Atbaryan said: “An entire country celebrated the bribe he never took. A thousand arrows of ‘leave, you’re corrupt’ were shot into his back every day and he remained standing. Oceans of rage, frustration, and pain must have burned in him but he didn’t show it. He revealed nothing. This trial is the darkest low point that the State of Israel has known. The conspirators, the persecutors, and the perpetrators must still be held accountable, but tonight I just want to say thank you to Prime Minister Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu.”
Culture Minister Miki Zohar said: “Today everyone understands what we have been saying all along: there will be nothing because there is nothing.”
Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli said: “Seven years, five election campaigns, political chaos, endless hatred and boycotts, protests every Saturday from Balfour street through Goren Square and the bridges to Kaplan, the complete denial of the presumption of innocence, torture of witnesses, wholesale leaks from investigations, shaming that cannot be described in words against a man who has dedicated his life to the rise of Israel. And in the end, when our society has been wounded baseless hatred and that wretched ‘Criminister gang,’ along with a few more disgruntled ex-members whom the public sent home, continues on its way, it turns out that everything has collapsed. There was no bribery, no fraud, no submarine affair, and no gas scandal.”
Former Justice Minister Gideon Sa’ar of the opposition National Unity party called on the parties to reach a plea deal: “During my tenure as Justice Minister, I refrained from referring to the possibility of a plea deal in the Netanyahu trial. This was out of respect for the independence of the Prosecutor’s Office in matters dedicated to its professional discretion. My position has long been that it is right, considering all the considerations, to end Netanyahu’s trial with a plea agreement.”
“Now it is appropriate for the prosecution to listen to the court’s messages and show willingness for such a negotiation. The public interest in the broadest sense is to end this long-standing saga with a plea agreement,” explained Sa’ar.
Last night, Channel 13 News reported that the judges presiding over Case 4000 summoned representatives of the prosecution and defense to a private room during a hearing and told the prosecutors that they would have a difficult time proving bribery in the case against Netanyahu.
Case 4000 involves allegations that Netanyahu made promises of favorable regulatory changes to Bezeq owner Shaul Elovitch in exchange for favorable coverage of the prime minister and his family on Walla, Elovitch’s news site.
