Former CEO of the Walla news site Ilan Yeshua appeared this morning at the Jerusalem District Court. Yeshua was the first witness to give testimony in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s graft trial, which opened a few months ago. His testimony concerned one of the three cases against Netanyahu, dubbed Case 4000. The others are referred to as Case 1000 and Case 2000. In Case 4000, Netanyahu is accused of bribery, fraud and breach of trust involving communication policies that served site owner Shaul Elovitch in exchange for positive coverage.

Yeshua told the court that he and a senior editor for the site referred to Netanyahu as "Kim" in reference to North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. He said was instructed by his bosses and people close to Netanyahu to prefer positive coverage of the prime minister and criticism of his rivals.  

“At the end of 2012, requests started to come from Elovitch to favor positive articles for Prime Minister Netanyahu and his wife Sara,” said Yeshua. He also claimed the news site deployed massive efforts to assassinate the character of Yamina leader Naftali Bennett, considered Netanyahu’s arch enemy.

Yeshua’s testimony is expected to last a few days. The court is scheduled to convened three days a week throughout the testimony phase of the trial. Netanyahu was instructed to arrive in the morning for the beginning of the sessions and be present during the prosecution’s opening remarks delivered by Liat Ben-Ari. He was allowed to leave the courthouse before Yeshua started giving his testimony. In her opening remarks, Ben-Ari accused Netanyahu of using his political clout to promote his personal affairs and retain office.