JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was recorded trying to negotiate a deal for more positive newspaper coverage two years ago, the Haaretz reported Sunday about the latest criminal investigation involving Israel's leader.
The tape recording, if it contains the facts published by Israeli media, expose a surprising sequence of events in which Netanyahu met with Arnon Mozes, publisher of the Yediot Ahronot newspaper that the prime minister has long reviled as part of a media conspiracy determined to oust him from office.
The conversation apparently turned around a mutually beneficial deal that would limit circulation of that paper's top competitor, the free daily Israel Hayom, which is owned by Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, a longtime Netanyahu supporter who backed President-elect Donald Trump in the 2016 election.Adelson's Israel Hayom is widely considered to be a Netanyahu mouthpiece. Adelson also owns the Las Vegas Review-Journal, which endorsed Trump for president.
In exchange for suppressing the Adelson-owned tabloid, Mozes was to make Yediot Ahronot's coverage more favorable to Netanyahu. The proposal never materialized, according to media reports.
Netanyahu's office had no comment about the latest revelation, a stark departure from its usual immediate response to any accusations.
But Netanyahu has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and told ministers from his Likud Party again on Sunday that “there will be nothing, because there is nothing.
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