'Walla-Akhbar': Netanyahu accuses Walla of pro-Hamas, pro-Iran content at trial

Netanyahu accused Walla's alleged political alignment of pushing for Naftali Bennett.

By YONAH JEREMY BOB DECEMBER 10, 2024 16:11 Updated: DECEMBER 10, 2024 16:38

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Tel Aviv District Court during his testimony in the trial against him, December 10, 2024 (photo credit: FLASH90/CHAIM GOLDBERG)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday accused the Walla media outlet of being so against him and leftwing in the past that he painted it as "Walla-Akhbar" to sound like "Alla Akhbar" to portray it as pro-Hamas, which he contends it was.

Now, he claimed that Walla coverage has gotten worse and is even "Walla Iran" as if it is pro-Iran.

Netanyahu made the comments in the context of trying to paint Walla as anti-Netanyahu.

He contended that Walla was so leftwing that it worked to make Naftali Bennett, who was then far more rightwing than him, acceptable in order to undermine Netanyahu within the broader rightwing movement. 

The prime minister said that he was trying to paint Bennett as radical right for expressing approval of IDF's refusal of orders in certain instances but that Walla was trying to rescue Bennett.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seen at the District Court in Jerusalem after the testimony of businessman Arnon Milchan's in his trial, on July 6, 2023 (credit: Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Netanyahu's comments on Bennet refer to statements from the 2012-2013 election campaign.

Why is Netanyahu attacking Walla?

Case 4000, originally the most threatening case with the most serious charge – bribery – has faced lots of problems. Former top Netanyahu aide Nir Hefetz provided the prosecution’s narrative regarding allegations against Netanyahu on the Walla side of the case: that the prime minister used Walla owner Shaul Elovitch and former Walla CEO Ilan Yeshua to manipulate coverage of him and his political rivals in around 300 instances.The defense managed to challenge some of the instances and show that Netanyahu’s rivals sometimes also played games manipulating coverage of themselves, but if the court accepts even a majority of the instances, the volume of coverage manipulation by the prime minister would drown out what his rivals have managed to achieve.Given that Elovitch owned both Bezeq and Walla, Netanyahu would have been benefiting Elovitch’s right hand so that Elovitch could essentially benefit Netanyahu with his left hand.

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Former Communications Ministry director-general Berger has testified that he repeatedly stuck to his guns on the conditions for a YES-Bezeq merger, also benefiting Elovitch’s EUROCOM, and ignored Netanyahu’s messengers, who he said were advocating problematic policies.The prosecution has presented evidence that this made Bezeq, Walla, and EUROCOM owner Elovitch furious, a sentiment which he asked Hefetz to pass on to the then-prime minister.