Celebrity lawyer says all politicians negotiate with newspapers, relationship should not be criminalized; warns Trump Syria pullout a mistake, bad for US, world peace and Israel
By STUART WINER, ISRAEL HAYOM
27 December 2018,
Alan Dershowitz at NEP Studios in New York, February 3, 2016. (John Lamparski/Getty Images for Hulu, via JTA
Alan Dershowitz, a prominent law professor and champion of Israel, said he does not consider there to be enough evidence to convict Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for corruption over his alleged negotiations with a newspaper publisher for better coverage, and that this is the kind of thing that all politicians do anyway.
Police have recommended that Netanyahu be indicted in three separate corruption cases, one of which, Case 2000, revolves around allegations that Netanyahu negotiated with Arnon Mozes, the publisher of the daily Yedioth Ahronoth, for better coverage as part of a quid pro quo deal.
“There is not enough proof of a criminal offense,” Dershowitz told Army Radio in an interview Thursday. “I think it is very dangerous to start indicting people based on negotiations with newspapers. That’s what politicians do.”
“To start interfering in the relationship between media and the government poses a tremendous danger to free speech and a tremendous danger to democracy,” he added.
In that case, Netanyahu is suspected of having advanced regulatory decisions as communications minister and prime minister from 2015 to 2017 that benefited Shaul Elovitch, the controlling shareholder in Bezeq, the country’s largest telecommunications firm, in exchange for positive coverage from Elovitch’s Walla news site.
In Case 1000, Netanyahu is suspected of receiving benefits worth about NIS 1 million ($282,000) from billionaire benefactors, including Israeli Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan, in exchange for assistance on various issues.
Case 2000 involves a suspected illicit quid pro quo deal between Netanyahu and Yedioth Ahronoth publisher Mozes that would have seen the prime minister hobble a rival daily newspaper, the Sheldon Adelson-backed freebie Israel Hayom, in return for more favorable coverage from Yedioth.
The files are now with Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, who must decide whether to press charges against the prime minister.
Media reports Thursday said Netanyahu does not intend to resign from office if indicted by the attorney general — whether before or after the upcoming election — and not even during a criminal trial in which he is a defendant.
The prime minister was reported to have told his close associates in recent days that he believed Mandelblit “won’t dare” to announce charges against him before April 9’s general elections, the Israel Hayom daily reported.
Does the Supreme Court require evidence?
Off with his head said the red queen to Mandelblit.