By Staff, Agencies Other figures involved in former Zionist prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s criminal trial likely had their phones hacked by police investigators, ‘Israeli’ TV reports suggested on Friday, a day after the networks revealed that police drained data from the phone of Shlomo Filber, the former Communications Minister director-general who is one of the key witness in Case 4000, the most serious of the three cases against the ex-premier. ‘Israeli’ Channel 13 reported that a second defendant in Case 4000, Shaul Elovitch, “apparently” had his phone targeted by police spyware.

Netanyahu is alleged to have advanced regulatory decisions as communications minister and prime minister that immensely benefited Elovitch, the former controlling shareholder of Bezeq, the occupation entity’s largest telecommunications firm.

In exchange, Netanyahu was given what amounted to editorial control over Elovitch’s Walla news site.

Meanwhile, ‘Israeli’ Channel 12 quoted an unnamed senior police official as saying that an unspecified number of other people connected to the Netanyahu cases were hit by police using spyware.

Reports on Wednesday and Thursday that police in 2017 drained all the data from Filber’s phone have prompted the occupied al-Quds District Court, where Netanyahu is standing trial, to order prosecutors to answer defense lawyers’ questions about the alleged abuse by Tuesday.

The court decided not to delay the next scheduled trial hearing on Monday.

Filber’s testimony is due to begin in about two weeks’ time.

Netanyahu on Wednesday evening called the revelations an “earthquake.” Netanyahu is on trial in three cases, having been indicted for fraud and breach of trust in cases 1000 and 2000, and for bribery, fraud and breach of trust in Case 4000.

He denies all wrongdoing and claims the charges were fabricated by a biased police force and prosecution, led by a weak attorney general, backed by leftist politicians and the media