Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu He issued a statement to the media today (Monday) at the beginning of the Likud faction meeting, in which he claimed that “we are witnessing an unprecedented attack by the media channels against the government and mobilization in favor of the opponents of the reform, there is a thought police.”
Netanyahu claimed that “we are all witnessing an unprecedented attack by media channels mobilized against the government. Completely mobilized in favor of the opponents of the reform. Live broadcasts, one-sided interpretations, biased polls, fake news 24 hours a day that does not stop for a moment. I remind you with what silk gloves they caressed the previous government. How they went out of their way to disrupt every step and lack of step by Bennett and Lapid.”
According to him, “In the left-wing media, everything is the other way around. In the left-wing media, refuseniks become heroes, road blockers who make the lives of thousands of Israelis miserable and ambulance blockers become freedom fighters. In the left-wing media, a reform that strengthens democracy becomes the ‘end of democracy’. Sorry, did I say ‘reform’? On the television channels it is a “legal coup”, a “regime coup”.
“You want to know what a coup is? In any reformed democracy with a desire for life, the elected government is the one responsible for the army, the police, law and order. This is anchored in law and common sense. Someone other than the elected government will be in charge of the fight against Iran, the fight against terrorism, maintaining About law and order? Who will do this, unelected officials? Will they be responsible for security or the fight against Iran? Will they be responsible for the fate of the people and the elected government? This is what they call democracy. It is the opposite of democracy.”
“This is what the media channels, in a ceaseless tsunami of fake news, are trying to instill in the public. I’ll give you one example. Propaganda Channel 12 opened the news yesterday with ‘a rift between the United Arab Emirates and Israel.’ An economic agreement that will pave the way for a free trade agreement. Israel’s ambassador to the Emirates calls senior officials in the Emirates government and they say “there was no such thing”. This is one example.
“There is only one thing you can do in the face of lies – tell the truth and fight for the truth. This is what the public expects from us and this is what I ask you to do in the face of the tremendous surge of lies and fake news. Perhaps the Israeli media should read today a seminal article in the Wall Street Journal, the newspaper The most important in the world, who writes that “the reform will not make Israel less democratic.” You will not hear a single syllable about this in the Israeli media, because it does not fit their agenda.
“In all the media channels outside of Israel, what captured the headlines in the last two days was the collapse of the SVB bank. It was at the top of the news and it needed to be. Here it is silenced, ignored as much as possible, for a simple reason: when the money was taken out it was at the top of the news, when the money is returned to Israel it is forbidden God forbid they hear about it.
“There is a tsunami of Hindu consciousness here that we have never known, and this is something that is very dangerous for a democratic regime. But there is not only fake news here, but also a thought police that condemns people in the opposition for consoling Minister Yariv Levin on the death of his father, a thought police that condemns people in the opposition who stand for My hand when I come to shake MK Boaz Toporovski’s hand after he was in a car accident, thought police that justify the opposition’s joining the shocking siege against my wife. We see mobilized propaganda channels that try to prevent the opposition from sitting down and talking with us to reach agreements,” he added and claimed.
“Nevertheless, I am expressing hope here. I hope that there will still be men and women in the opposition who will stand up and be ready to speak. I hope that they will respond to our call because this will only help Israeli democracy and also help determine the agreed reform that we wish to pass here, and I hope that they will find the courage and the honesty to overcome the propaganda channels and come and do the right thing. The right thing to do is to talk, to try to reach agreements. It’s not too late and I’m still not giving up on that,” he concluded.
MK Danny Danon addressed Netanyahu in the closed part of the Likud faction meeting: “You are the prime minister and not a bystander. It is impossible that officials will not allow you to deal with the main issue the government is dealing with and save our country from a disaster. I call on you to announce that the conflict of interest agreement you signed , null and void, and immediately start working on finding a solution to the crisis.”
Also in the closed part, MK Eli Dellal asked Netanyahu to restrain the Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gabir: “We are in a sensitive period where we are being searched for any nonsense. Even right-wing people who are not familiar with the reform are worried about what they hear. His statements about the ombudsman and police officers are not reassuring, and that’s to say the least. He needs to make the transition from the opposition to the minister.”