by Mati Tuchfeld, Yehuda Shlezinger, News Agencies and Israel Hayom Staff
Speaking to some 3,000 supporters in Tel Aviv, PM lambasts Left and the media for "obsessive witch hunt against me and my family with the goal of achieving a coup against the government"
Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu speaking in Tel Aviv, Wednesday
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Photo credit: Reuters  |
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Organizers say rally drew
some 3,000 supporters
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Photo credit: KOKO  |
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Some 3,000 people gathered in Tel Aviv on
Wednesday evening in a show of support for Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu and the Likud government.
Party officials described the gathering at the
Tel Aviv Convention Center as an attempt to counter what they believe
is a campaign by a hostile media and overzealous prosecutors to topple Netanyahu's government. The strong turnout demonstrated that Likud members are firmly behind the party's leader.
Taking the stage, Netanyahu pulled no punches,
lambasting the media and the Left for what he called a brazen attempt
to topple his government.
"We know that the Left and the media -- and we
know that it's the same thing -- is on an obsessive witch hunt against
me and my family with the goal of achieving a coup against the
government," he proclaimed.
"The media and the Left contrive endless
scandals, endless reports and endless headlines so that maybe, maybe
something will stick. They demand from law-enforcement authorities:
'give us something, it doesn't matter what.' The Left and the media's
aim is to put pressure -- which is wrong -- on law enforcement
authorities to hand down an indictment at any cost, regardless of the
truth and regardless of justice.
"The Thought Police in the media works full
time. It sets the tone and everyone has to follow it -- woe to those who
stray from it. I read a [Facebook] post of a wise man asking why it is
necessary to investigate the prime minister about his conversations with
a publisher of Yedioth Ahronoth, but there seems to be no need to
investigate dozens of MKs who voted in favor of the bill against Israel
Hayom – a bill that would have made that publisher hundreds of millions
[of shekels]. Many of these MKs have been cuddled by the media, but
according to leftist pundits, there is no need to investigate that. What
a carnival of hypocrisy and self-righteousness. What double standard,"
Netanyahu continued.
"A wise man told me this morning that 'they
don't want to just bring you down. They want us all, the Likud, the
national camp.' He told me, 'They knew they can't beat us at the polls
so they're trying to circumvent democracy. They know that it's not for
nothing that we win again and again in the elections.' We brought Israel
to the best position in its history. We have turned our country into a
rising global power in cyber, in economy and in intelligence."
Criticizing the media and taking a jab at
former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who is one of his most boisterous
critics, Netanyahu said, "The fake news media kept telling us, in
unison, that unless we withdraw from homeland areas, Israel would be
[internationally] isolated and weak. … How did that old man with the new
beard [Barak] say it -- he was once prime minister for a short time,
not a very successful one -- he said, 'The political tsunami is
underway.' What tsunami? What isolation? What nonsense. Israel is
enjoying unprecedented diplomatic prosperity."
The prime minister said the Left was desperate to find ways to oust the Right from power.
"One of the organizers of the Left's
demonstrations [across from Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit's home]
said, 'We can't bring Netanyahu down in the elections, so will bring him
down with investigations. We do not have Russians [voters], Mizrahi
[voters] and we do not have the periphery [voters]. We're in trouble.'
Well, my friends -- we're not in trouble! We have Mizrahim and
Ashkenazim; we have immigrants and veteran Israelis; secular and
religious; we have Amona and we have Dimona," he exclaimed.
Netanyahu further lambasted the media for targeting his family, especially his wife, Sara.
"They won't tell the public how she supports
sick families, Holocaust survivors, children with cancer and lone
soldiers. No, they would rather focused on the important things: the
procedure for changing a light bulb [at the Prime Minister's Residence];
a cup of tea given to her dying 97-year-old father -- what a disgrace!
"Morning, noon, and night they offer bombastic
headlines, new details, dramatic developments, a parade of people
questioned [by the police]. I've heard rumors that soon, the media will
demand the police question Kaia," he said, referring to the family's
dog.
In his speech on Wednesday Netanyahu also
accused Palestinian officials of seeking his political demise but said
he would not yield to their demands for Israeli concessions in peace
talks that have been frozen since 2014.
"My friends, they too will be disappointed, because it won't happen," he said.
Mati Tuchfeld, Yehuda Shlezinger, News Agencies and Israel Hayom Staff
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=44511
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