Hadas Klein, an aide to tycoon Arnon Milchan, testifies Tuesday in Case 1,000 – the breach of trust charge against the former prime minister.
Sara Netanyahu, wife of former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, allegedly tried to get Hadas Klein, an aide to tycoon Arnon Milchan, to withdraw her testimony before the police, Klein testified on Tuesday.
Klein took the stand as part of the hearing in Case 1,000 – the “Illegal Gifts Affair” – against the former prime minister. Klein’s testimony marks a transition away from Case 4,000 (the “Bezeq-Walla Affair”) which has dominated the trial since witnesses started testifying a year ago.
She testified in the Jerusalem District Court about the connection between Netanyahu and billionaires Milchan and James Packer.
Klein said that Packer loved Netanyahu and said, “he is the most impressive man in the world.” She said that he was impressed when Netanyahu would introduce him to then-Mossad director Yossi Cohen and would discuss connecting the two.
What is Case 1,000?
Like Case 2,000, the indictment is based on the vague and hard-to-define breach of trust charge.
Netanyahu allegedly received NIS 267,254 ($75,800) in cigars and NIS 184,448 ($52,300) worth of champagne from billionaire Milchan between 2011 and 2016. Sara Netanyahu allegedly received NIS 10,900 ($3,100) worth of jewelry from him in the same time period.
He and his family also received another NIS 229,174 ($65,000) in champagne and cigars from Milchan’s associate, billionaire James Packer, between 2014 and 2016.
Klein testified on Tuesday about how cigars and champagne from Milchan were passed on to Netanyahu, often through the prime minister’s various aides.
She discussed an instance in which he demanded that Milchan or Packer find work for an associate of his.
When Klein said it would be hard because they had fewer employees in Israel, Netanyahu said she should have Packer fly in from Australia to meet with him to personally discuss finding the associate a job there.
In another instance, Klein said that Netanyahu told her that Milchan should calm down about how long it was taking to get him a special visa for residing and traveling in the US. According to the indictment, Milchan and Klein appealed repeatedly to the then-prime minister in December 2013 and in 2014 to help him receive a long US visa extension.
Netanyahu said that as long as Milchan was rich and healthy, he should not worry so much. She said she traveled to Caesarea to provide jewelry directly to Sara, as requested by the Netanyahus from Milchan.
Klein said that she and Milchan’s driver Yonatan would deliver cigars for him and champagne for her.
She described numerous fights with both of them when they did not get the desired gifts and at one point she threatened to quit working for Milchan if he did not get Sara to stop sending her texts which she found to be harassment.
Crying and with her voice shaking, Klein testified about Sara Netanyahu accusing her of conspiracies.
She said that on her father’s grave and in the name of her sick mother, she had followed their values of telling the truth.
Klein accused Sarah of crossing all lines and being willing to pressure her into withdrawing her testimony at “any price.”
Further, she added that unnamed persons had told her that Milchan will fire her as soon as the trial is over and that he was only waiting for her to testify to avoid charges of witness intimidation.
The defense and the court are expected to ask why, if there was not quid pro quo on Netanyahu’s end for a bribery charge, was there enough for a breach of trust charge. Also, if billionaire Milchan was not charged for giving Netanyahu gifts, why should the prime minister be charged?
There are big questions about how Milchan will testify.
The prosecution may bring his testimony earlier out of concern about reports that Netanyahu and his lawyer Boaz Ben Zur have continued to speak with Milchan during the investigation and since the trial began.
While they claim that their contact has not been related to the trial, the prosecution threatened Ben Zur with disciplinary charges for the problematic contact.
The big question will be whether the court sees all of the actions Netanyahu took for Milchan as separate and distinct acts, none of which came to fruition, or as part of a damning pattern.
According to the indictment, Netanyahu summoned IDF Maj.-Gen. Eitan Dangot in 2010 to provide Milchan with an IDF helicopter to go to Jordan for business.
Netanyahu’s lawyers have told The Jerusalem Post that this was for businessman Ratan Tata to advance deals with Jordan, not for Milchan.
But the prosecution will bring testimony that Netanyahu also met with Milchan’s accountant Zeev Feldman to ensure that the business plans were to benefit the billionaire.
Milchan made explicit requests of Netanyahu for assistance with other similar issues starting from 2009.
There is testimony from then-finance minister Yair Lapid about Netanyahu improperly trying to persuade him to give Milchan a massive tax exemption during two meetings in late 2013.
The former prime minister initially approved a short extension for Milchan through then-US ambassador Dan Shapiro.
When this short extension was not enough, Netanyahu obtained a longer extension by speaking to then-US secretary of state John Kerry.
Former top Netanyahu aide Shlomo Filber will testify that Netanyahu also told him in 2015 to help Milchan with regulatory issues relating to a potential merger between the Reshet and Keshet networks which would help the business tycoon.