Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Israeli Telecom Officials Arrested As Netanyahu Corruption Investigations Widen

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel Police’s corruption unit and the Israel Securities Authority have opened an investigation into the Israel telecommunications company Bezeq, part of an ongoing corruption investigation involving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Several suspects reportedly were arrested on Sunday as part of the investigation, called Case 4000, in part looking into whether Netanyahu had a relationship with the company.  Netanyahu has not been named as a suspect in the case.

The Israel Securities Authority recently completed an investigation into Bezeq majority shareholder Shaul Elovitch’s ties with Netanyahu and the allegation that he received political favors for Bezeq in return for favorable coverage of Netanyahu on the Walla! News website, owned by Bezeq.

A gag order was placed on details of the arrests.

In a filing with the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange on Sunday, Bezeq confirmed that senior company had been arrested.

The suspended director general of the Ministry of Communications, Shlomo Filber, who was previously questioned in the Bezeq case, was among those arrested Sunday, his attorney confirmed to the Globes business publication. Two former associates who worked in the Prime Minister’s office reportedly also were detained by the Israel Securities Authority on Sunday for questioning.

Walla! News CEO Ilan Yeshua and former editor-in-chief Yinon Magal also were asked to testify Sunday over the suspicion of favorable coverage, Ynet reported.

“This is another false claim. The prime minister didn’t act for Elovitch’s and Bezeq’s benefit, not for favorable coverage and not for anything else,” read a statement issued on Netanyahu’s behalf

Netanyahu is expected to be questioned in connection with the case, Haaretz reported; he not been named as a suspect in the case.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.