Filber approves he was instructed by Netanyahu to promote the reform but moderate the prices

State witness Shlomo Filber testified today for the first time in the trial of opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu in the Jerusalem District Court. His testimony is considered very central in the 4000 case, and should also affect the 1000 case. Netanyahu himself arrived at the courtroom, as he did on the first day of the testimony of state witness Nir Hefetz, and sat down a few meters away with his son Avner by his side.
Filber was asked about the "facilitation meeting" with Netanyahu and described it: "There were also David Sharan and others in the room. We talked for ten minutes and a quarter of an hour about the broadcasts - what to do, what the steps are, what schedules. Kind of work plan. I remember that he (Netanyahu, GM) stood at a distance - I remember it photographed - and told me 'Elowitz' contacted me and said he had problems in the office, that incorrect prices were set. check this out. "Do not stop the competition, see if you can moderate the prices."
Shlomo Filber testified about the "armchair meeting," in which, according to the indictment, he was instructed by then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to help Shaul Elowitz. "Netanyahu told me: 'Elowitz' contacted me and told me that he had problems in the ministry. Do not stop the process (wholesale market reform), but see if you can moderate the prices' and made such a move with my hand," he said
According to Filber, "looking back - I did not do any of the things he asked for." He then confronted the fact that the Bezeq-Yes merger was approved, and then the plaintiff, Yehudit Tirosh, told him: "So not everything." Pilber described that after the moderation meeting there was a meeting at the Ministry of Communications: The attitude towards Bezeq - I found everyone in a world war, talking through the courts, it seemed delusional to me. "
Filber was asked what burning issues Netanyahu's chief of staff at the Ministry of Communications, Eitan Tzafrir, presented to him when he took office. He replied: "The main open issues were the whole world of broadcasting, with an emphasis on closing Channel 10, which was an unresolved crisis. It was the interest of the news company, the corporation, and of course the wholesale market reform, which was a war between Bezeq and the ministry." Pilbar was asked if Tzafrir had talked to him about the Bezeq-Yes merger and replied: "Of course. He presented me with a letter of initiation to start the process, told me that the issue was on the agenda and that Berger was currently dragging his feet." In doing so, Pilber confirmed that in his conversation with Tzafrir when he took office, the issue of Bezeq-Yes arose.
According to Pilber, "Tzafrir presented me with a document that was transferred for treatment. The intention was that it should be promoted (the Bezeq-Yes merger; GM)." When asked if Tzafrir talked about the merger schedules, Filber replied: When he asked what was important to Netanyahu in the Ministry of Communications, he replied: "It was very important for him to reform the opening of the broadcasting market to competition. He wanted to remove government involvement from the broadcasting market, but open everything up. It was a real sense of mission. Not everything has worked out and some of the fruit we are seeing today is the level of public confidence in these systems. Most of the talk was about that. "
The plaintiff asked Filber how much Netanyahu was interested in the issue of telecom and Bezeq, and Pilber replied that Netanyahu did not show any special interest in this. Apparently, the State Attorney's Office wants to show by this how much Netanyahu's involvement in Bezeq matters was exceptional in the future. When asked how much he represented in his work the minister's position (Netanyahu was then communications minister, GM), Filber replied: "In cases where I thought there was a mistake in the minister's decision, I would turn to him and try to convince him. I did not always succeed, but I did. In the end, I am the minister's man. "
Filber referred to his appointment as director general of the Ministry of Communications: “I knew I would get a job that I did not know if I would return from it alive. Not kidding. I knew I would enter and move the country, the most powerful forces in Israel. I completely identified with the mission because the election was post-trauma. We have seen that the Israeli media does not report on democracy, but participates as a very active player. It was clear that the broadcasting market needed to be opened and I would be the man to do the job, the bad man. So I wanted to come as ready as possible. I invested hundreds of hours in it, until the wee hours of the night, I read all the regulations, laws, regulations and materials that the Ministry of Communications published. "
Filber referred to his appointment as director general of the Ministry of Communications: “I knew I would get a job that I did not know if I would return from it alive. Not kidding. I knew I would enter and move the country, the most powerful forces in Israel. I completely identified with the mission because the election was post-trauma. We have seen that the Israeli media does not report on democracy, but participates as a very active player. It was clear that the broadcasting market needed to be opened and I would be the man to do the job, the bad man. So I wanted to come as ready as possible. I invested hundreds of hours in it, until the wee hours of the night, I read all the regulations, laws, regulations and materials that the Ministry of Communications published. "