Netanyahu Interfered 230 Times With News Site Coverage

Israeli demonstrators gather for a demonstration against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu outside his official residence in Jerusalem, calling upon him to resign on Nov. 28, 2020. Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images.
Israeli demonstrators gather for a demonstration against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu outside his official residence in Jerusalem, calling upon him to resign on Nov. 28, 2020. Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images.
TT
20

Netanyahu Interfered 230 Times With News Site Coverage

Israeli demonstrators gather for a demonstration against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu outside his official residence in Jerusalem, calling upon him to resign on Nov. 28, 2020. Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images.
Israeli demonstrators gather for a demonstration against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu outside his official residence in Jerusalem, calling upon him to resign on Nov. 28, 2020. Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images.

An amended indictment against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu filed by the State Prosecutor’s Office on Sunday details 230 instances in which Netanyahu or members of his family sought to improve coverage of them on the Walla news website while he served as communications minister.

In the most serious of the three cases against him - known as Case 4000 - Netanyahu is accused of providing regulatory benefits to Bezeq, the country’s largest telecommunications group, in exchange for positive media coverage on its news site Walla.

The amended version of the so-called Case 4000 removed all language referring to Netanyahu's family, zeroing in on the premier alone.

In addition, the prosecution listed in the amended indictment 315 incidents in which various Netanyahu family members or other intermediaries of the prime minister demanded that the Walla website give them more positive coverage.

Last May, Attorney General Avichai Mandelbilt officially delivered the Israeli Prime Minister’s indictment to Knesset Speaker -- Netanyahu will stand trial for bribery, fraud, and breach of trust in three different corruption cases.

While his trial was scheduled back then, his lawyers obstructed the court’s activity. However, the Israel Judicial Authority announced a strict schedule that stipulates holding three sessions every week starting Jan 6.



5 Killed in Courthouse Attack in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan Province, Iranian Media Report

Iranian security forces. (EPA file)
Iranian security forces. (EPA file)
TT
20

5 Killed in Courthouse Attack in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan Province, Iranian Media Report

Iranian security forces. (EPA file)
Iranian security forces. (EPA file)

An armed attack by the Jaish al-Adl Baluch group on a courthouse in Iran’s restive southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan province killed at least five people and injured 13, Iranian media reported.

Three assailants were also killed in the ensuing clashes with security forces, a senior police official told the state news agency IRNA.

He said a mother and child were among those killed by the gunmen who threw a hand grenade into the building in Zahedan, the capital of Sistan-Baluchestan.

In a statement posted on its Telegram account, Jaish al-Adl took responsibility for the attack and urged "all civilians to immediately evacuate the area of clashes for their safety".

The Baluch human rights group HAALVSH, quoting eyewitnesses, said several judiciary staff members and security personnel were killed or wounded when the assailants stormed the judges’ chambers.

Sistan-Baluchestan province, near the borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan, is home to Iran’s Baluch minority, who have long complained of economic marginalization and political exclusion.

The province frequently sees clashes between security forces and armed groups, including militants and separatists who say they are fighting for greater rights and autonomy.

The Iranian government accuses some of them of ties to foreign powers and involvement in cross-border smuggling and insurgency.