"You wrote an interview with yourself?": The embarrassing revelation about Mandelblit and the Walla website

In the cross-examination of former Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit in the Netanyahu trial, defense attorney Amit Hadad confronted him with questions about receiving and editing interview drafts. Mandelblit repeatedly answered "could be," leading Hadad to ask: "Did you write an interview with yourself?" Later, Mandelblit recalled an interview of the Israel Bar Association published on Walla. The article presents this as strengthening the defense's claim of selective enforcement, suggesting routine media actions are criminalized when done by Netanyahu while senior officials do the same.

During the cross-examination of former Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's trial, Netanyahu's defense attorney Amit Hadad confronted him with questions about whether he used to receive interview drafts, edit them, and request changes or removal of paragraphs before publication. Mandelblit struggled to recall and repeatedly answered "could be," leading to a confrontation where Hadad snapped: "Did you write an interview with yourself?" Later, Mandelblit recalled an interview related to the Israel Bar Association published on the Walla website, and Hadad linked this to the publication to argue it was a normative practice. The article presents these events as strengthening the defense's claim of selective enforcement, whereby routine media actions are portrayed as criminal when done by Netanyahu, while senior officials engage in them themselves.