The defendant also described that in view of his being a wealthy man, he often wondered whether people were interested in being in contact with him because of his money or for the sake of friendship, when his conduct toward Ben-Eliezer was "equal among equals", conduct that captivated his heart.
This is how he explained it in his testimony:
"... People in which I am in my situation, why, unfortunately, is it precisely the fault of money, there are not many friends because you, by nature I have become a suspicious person, unfortunately, I was not like that and you ask yourself is it really because of the money or because of friendship? And it's very difficult and suddenly I see a person who really doesn't need me, what does he need me? What does he need me? Fouad was a simple person, Fouad would not eat lobsters or shrimp, he would eat hummus and don't know, kubbeh and these things, he would not dress especially fakily, he would not live in a luxurious house, there was a person who was not and the one who would be argued otherwise, it is not interesting, this is Fouad that I knew and this Fouad is suddenly equal to me, I can talk to him anything and it did me good, And it did it for me, it made me realize that I can talk to a person about any issue in the world and he won't be ashamed and tell me what he thinks, even if he thinks it's not true, because a lot of people, the honorable judge, don't tell the truth when you're a strong person, they tell you what you want to hear and Fouad didn't do it. Who would dare tell me what he told me?" (Prov. p. 1174, s. 29).
- In its summaries, the defense also referred to the testimony of Vaknin and Sharon Kedmi, as well as to the testimonies of the defendant's counsel in the tax proceeding, all of whom were under the impression that there was a friendly, warm and loving relationship between the two.
The defense also referred to an article published in the newspaper "TheMarker", which shows that in 2010, at a surprise party held for Ben-Eliezer in the presence of many participants, Ben-Eliezer thanked the defendant in his speech for his "long friendship and friendship" (P/10).