NETANYAHU REJECTS NEW CALLS TO RESIGN
PM SLAMS PROTESTS
JERUSALEM • Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu struck back on Sunday at demonstrations calling for his resignation, accusing protesters of trampling democracy and the Israeli media of encouraging them.
Netanyahu, who was sworn in for a fifth term in May after an election, has often complained of press bias against him, and some of the charges he faces in a corruption trial relate to alleged attempts to seek favourable coverage from media barons in return for state favours.
Thousands of Israelis have been taking to the streets, including outside Netanyahu’s Jerusalem home, to protest against alleged corruption and economic hardship stemming from lockdowns during the coronavirus crisis.
“We are a generation who have lost complete faith in the system. People are fighting for their livelihood,” said Costa Black, 30, who was arrested during the protests and lost his restaurant job because of the pandemic’s impact on the economy. “Our leaders stopped serving us, they don’t care about us.”
A July 12 poll by the Israel Democracy Institute found 29.5 per cent trust the 70-year-old leader’s handling of the crisis, down from 57.5 per cent in April and 47 per cent in June.
Some Israelis believe Netanyahu was distracted by plans to annex parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Others say his attention turned to the corruption case against him, in which he denies wrongdoing.
Criticizing the protests and media at the weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said that while demonstrators portray their campaign as an attempt to “preserve Israeli democracy, I see it as an attempt to trample democracy.”
“These demonstrations are fuelled by a media mobilization, the likes of which I can’t remember,” he said, accusing the Israeli press of “North Korean-like” uniformity in its alleged bias against him.
“They do not report the demonstrations — they participate in them. They add fuel,” said Netanyahu, who returned as prime minister in 2009 after a first term from 1996-99.
Netanyahu said no one was trying to restrict the demonstrations, in which many of the protesters are young Israelis.
Netanyahu’s main coalition partner, Defence Minister Benny Gantz of the centrist Blue and White party, defended the demonstrations.
“The right to protest is the lifeblood of democracy,” Gantz said at the cabinet meeting.
Legislator Tamar Zandberg of the opposition leftwing Meretz party said in a statement that Netanyahu was “marching in the footsteps of dark regimes.”