MOST OF ISRAEL’S NATIONAL MEDIA, tv, newspapers, and on-line publications, are politically left of center; some more than others. (Specifically,, limited circulation/limited interest media, such as that controlled by Orthodox rabbis, are excluded from the “most national media” category.)
One publication stood out as a bastion of conservatism.
Operative word: “Stood.”
Past tense.
I USED TO THINK ISRAEL HAYOM presented basically fair coverage, less influenced by the politicians than other publications.
It was to the right-of-center, to be certain.
However,
New name needed
The newspaper is owned lock, stock, and ink barrel by “an unidentified relative” of the Adelson family.1 On the death of Sheldon Adelson, his widow, Dr. Miriam Adelson, assumed the role of publisher.
While Benjamin Netanyahu was prime minister, Israel HaYom stayed close to its general conservative roots.
However, when Netanyahu was deposed — primarily by his own doing — the paper’s loyalty to the former prime minister took precedence over journalistic integrity.
No matter what the leaders of the current coalition do (or don’t do) they are pilloried by Israel HaYom columnists and headline writers.
Netanyahu could do no wrong (despite his record).
Netanyahu’s foes can do no right — never mind that they have been in office less than 90 days.
In this scrivener’s opinion, the publication should be renamed to
Caveat: I was not, I am not, a fan to Benjamin Netanyahu.
Just like Hillary
Netanyahu and his followers learned from Hillary Clinton and her Democrat sycophants after she lost the 2016 election to President Donald Trump.
Whine.
Claim he could do better.
Disrupt parliamentary discussions.
Exit in a huff.
Promise to “bring down the government” because the man who would be king was deposed.
Childish.
My grandchildren are no worse, and they are 10 and 6.
Frankly, Netanyahu’s behavior, and that of his hangers on is embarrassing.
Embarrassing to the country he used to lead.
Embarrassing to the people who once gave his party their votes.
(In Israel, Members of Knesset (MKs) are elected by party; the more votes (mandates) a party receives, the more members will make it into the Knesset. The Knesset has 120 seats.)
All about Bibi
In a previous instance, several Likud members left the party because of Netanyahu’s flips and flops. The best known of the defectors was former Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir (right).
Shamir was a critic of his Likud successor, Benjamin Netanyahu, as being too indecisive in dealing with the Arabs. Shamir went so far as to resign from the Likud in 1998 and endorse Herut, a right-wing splinter movement led by Benny Begin, which later joined the National Union during the 1999 election. (https://tinyurl.com/snvutxm9)
According to Jonathan S. Tobin, editor in chief of Jewish News Syndicate, “the creation of the so-called unity government was made possible by one man and one man only. And his name is Benjamin Netanyahu. Such a coalition was rendered possible by Netanyahu’s personal untrustworthiness.” (https://tinyurl.com/2awx3d38)
Finance Minister Israel Katz told activists for the ruling Likud that in an attempt to prevent the party’s fall from power, he had suggested that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu step aside temporarily to enable the formation of a right-wing government. (https://tinyurl.com/yxzelhg6)
Netanyahu refused, even though Katz (illegally ?) promised that Netanyahu could continue to reside in the PM’s residence while he “vacationed” for a year.
Bibi and D.C.
During the Trump administration, Bibi and Trump had a warm relationship that led to the Abraham Accords (for which Netanyahu falsely claims credit).
Now that the Obama protege (right) is sitting in the Oval Office and surrounding himself with pro-Muslim/anti-Israel advisors, Netanyahu would hardly be welcome at the White House. (Would Biden snub a prime minister as the chutzpan Obama did?)
The current coalition — it is not expected to last the full four-year term — is more pragmatic, less antagonistic to Washington than Netanyahu following Trump’s defeat.
Sources
1. Wikipedia: https://tinyurl.com/2a9jneac Footnote 9)
PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.
Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.
Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.
