Israel’s Government Press Office held its regular reception for foreign correspondents in Israel. As we know, there are way more foreign correspondents in Israel than almost anywhere else in the world (especially considering how small this country is).
The quiet fireworks are in the first 6 minutes of Bibi Netanyahu speaking:
Off the top he highlights US Ambassador Friedman for his exceptionally strong tweet following Saturday’s heinous murder of Rabbi Raziel Shevach, a 35-year-old father of six, rabbi & Magen David Adom medic. Here’s Friedman’s tweet:
Statements from the official representative of the US Government and State Department don’t come more unequivocal than this. No calls for restraint, no “both sides”, just condemnation of evil terrorists and the people who support and send them. I didn’t notice particularly abundant coverage of just how different that tweet is from ambassadors of previous Administrations.
Immediately after this (at 2 mins) he lists three stories he directly challenges the foreign media for under covering or even ignoring. He asks for a show of hands for who covered each point. He gets a few on point 1, precisely none on point 2 and I suspect they were all nervously looking at their shoes on point 3.
- Payments by Abbas’s Palestinian Authority direct to terrorists and their famlies.
- Massive extra investment in Arab citizens of Israel for education, health and opportunities.
- Did the journalists’ outlets call the Iranian Rouhani government “moderate” even as it is shooting peaceful protestors in the streets and dumping them in torture prisons?
This wasn’t a Trumpian outburst calling them all “Fake News”, he even lets the BBC ask a question, but the criticism, direct to all these foreign correspondents, for downplaying or ignoring important stories that don’t fit their agendas was understood by all of them.
