Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Monday was forced to spend another day at the Tel Aviv District Court after last week’s hearings were canceled due to his visit to Washington.

As the hearing progressed and the allegations against the prime minister proved to be completely baseless once again, Netanyahu angrily addressed the prosecution: “You’ve dragged me into this hell for eight years with your nonsense. Aren’t you ashamed? You fabricated these cases from beginning to end!”

It should be noted that the cases against Netanyahu have fallen apart to the point that the chief prosecutor involved in the cases recently resigned from the position. Although she denied her resignation was related to Netanyahu’s trial, it came shortly after the judges scoffed in court over many of the prosecution’s claims.

Netanyahu spoke directly to the judges, claiming that the charges against him raise questions even among senior leaders in the world: “The anger is not feigned, the outrage is not feigned. This is being discussed all over the world, including senior Washington officials I met with. They asked me – is this why a Prime Minister is being put on trial?”

Netanyahu’s remarks came after his defense attorney Amit Hadad reviewed a piece of “evidence” in the indictment – a Walla report about  Avner Netanyahu’s enlistment in the IDF – that supposedly proved the allegation that Netanyahu bribed the CEO of Walla to provide favorable coverage.  But as Hadad has proven in previous court hearings, the so-called “evidence” of favorable Walla coverage does not hold water.

Hadad asked Netanyahu: “When this was published in all media outlets, including in Walla, did you feel that you received unusual responsiveness from Walla?”

Netanyahu: “No. How could the most natural announcement published in all outlets, including from members of the Schocken family [Haaretz] or in Ynet, be considered unusual responsiveness?”

Netanyahu then turned to the prosecution, angrily calling out: “Why am I being tried for this? You’ve dragged me into this hell for eight years with your nonsense, for what? Aren’t you ashamed? Senior officials in Washington are asking how this can be.”

“Absurd. Did you check what is happening at NRG? Ynet? Haaretz? There it’s not unusual but at Walla, it suddenly is? You have no basis to say what is unusual or not. You completely fabricated this from beginning to end!”

In previous court hearings, Hadad proved that Walla not only failed to provide favorable coverage to Netanyahu but was hostile and unresponsive to the prime minister. Hadad showed the court an example of a Walla report that was written in a far more hostile manner to Netanyahu than even the report by the far-left Haaretz outlet, which is known for its hostility toward the prime minister.

But the indictment cites that Walla report, and dozens of other reports that were hostile to the prime minister, as articles written after Netanyahu personally interfered and received positive coverage in exchange for personal favors for the Walla CEO!

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)