Netanyahu's allies forced news editors to write toady articles about his wife Sarah.

Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sarah Photo: Tzafrir Abayov/AP writing toadying reports about his wife, a trial was announced on Monday about his corruption.

Baruch Shai, the former head of news at the news website Walla, told a court in Jerusalem that the Israeli prime minister and his associates would interfere with his coverage, describing «continuous» pressure to edit or delete articles.

He said the site's «bosses» would ask reporters to write favorable stories about Sarah Netanyahu, Mr. Netanyahu's wife, and cover her activities that were not newsworthy.

«It was an unusual request… I I don't think it was an interesting event,” Mr. Shei said of one occasion when he was told to send a photographer to cover a meeting between Israeli soldiers and Ms. Netanyahu.

< p>“There was an exchange of opinions, and if I remember correctly, we didn’t send anyone, but received the text from [Editor-in-Chief] Avi Alklalay and put it on the inside page at a less busy time. It was a compromise because the only thing they were interested in was having a link that could be forwarded,” Mr. Shei said.

Tensions continue

The latest revelations in the Mr. amid lingering tensions over his highly controversial plans to overhaul the Israeli justice system.

Israel's Knesset [parliament] was due to vote Monday night on a key section of the law, which the Israeli leader continues to try to pass the law despite unprecedented nationwide protests against it. Further mass protests are planned for Tuesday.

Mr. Netanyahu vehemently denies all charges against him, which he described as a politically motivated witch hunt.

Mr. Shai testified in Case 4000 in court alleging that Mr. Netanyahu, during his previous term as leader, provided Walla owners with regulatory benefits in exchange for positive news coverage.

In In his testimony, Mr. Shay said that requests to change the coverage came “through text messages, phone calls.”

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“The pressure did not stop until the issue was resolved. The minute such an incident began, it could last an hour, a day, two days. Sometimes it was about using photographs or covering the events of the Netanyahu family,” Shai said.

At one time, according to Shai, then-CEO of Walla Ilan Yeshua asked him to put some quotes from Ms. Netanyahu in an article about soldiers, killed during the Gaza war in 2014.

“I told him that the story had already come out. In the end, we compromised, we put a photo of Mrs. Netanyahu in an inconspicuous place,” he said.

The trial of Mr. Netanyahu is ongoing and will probably last until 2028 or 2029, according to Israeli media. reports.