A tale of two crises
At least one Hebrew-language newspaper draws a link between the coalition crisis sparked by a controversial immunity bill, and the fresh allegations facing Sara Netanyahu
Tamar Pileggi is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.
The latest dramas surrounding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, are the focus of Israel’s print media on Monday.
On Sunday, a former worker in the Prime Minister’s Residence testified in a NIS 225,000 ($64,000) abuse lawsuit filed against Sara Netanyahu, alleging that the prime minister’s wife relentlessly insulted her while she was employed at the residence.
At the same time, the so-called “French Law,” granting serving prime ministers immunity from corruption investigations, was not raised for debate Sunday in the key Ministerial Committee for Legislation, despite threats from Likud lawmakers to bring down the government if the bill was not advanced.
The ministerial panel convened after a morning beset by coalition infighting over the bill, which coalition chairman David Bitan (Likud) has vowed to advance despite the opposition of the Jewish Home party, in what is threatening to become a full blown crisis for Netanyahu’s government.
Leading its Monday edition, Haaretz quotes senior Likud officials who say that Netanyahu fabricated the coalition crisis in order to distract the public from the investigations into him and his wife.
“Netanyahu doesn’t want the main news broadcasts to open with stories about his wife and son or the investigation against him and is therefore flooding the media with stories,” one minister said, adding that the vote at the Ministerial Committee on Legislation was a tactic to “to divert attention.”
The ministers told Haaretz the prime minister’s “insistence” on bringing the bill to a vote was part of a “campaign to protect Netanyahu.”
The issue sparked further drama when Bitan, a staunch ally of Netanyahu, engaged in a war of words with the Jewish Home party that resulted in the freezing of all voting in the ministerial committees.
In its opinion pages, Haaretz’s columnists don’t spare Netanyahu either. Author Iris Leal takes the first family to task for their response to the various investigations into their alleged wrongdoings.
“It’s clear that the ruler must be saved, even at the cost of destroying the state. But democracy is such an exhausting thing and the difficulties being made for the tyrant en route to his seizing control of it are such a headache that [Netanyahu’s son] Yair will never repeat his father’s mistake,” Leal writes.
After a series of embarrassing and controversial statements on social media, Netanyahu’s youngest son Yair, who was widely speculated to be seeking to follow his father’s footsteps in office, announced last week that he would not enter political life.
Across its front page, Yedioth Ahronoth on Monday declares that Netanyahu himself “stopped legislation over the immunity bill” and accuses him of hypocrisy.
The daily makes no mention of the accusations against Netanyahu reported in Haaretz, but notes the prime minister’s words “don’t appear to match the actions of his allies MKs David Bitan and Dudi Amsalem.”
“Who benefits from this? Netanyahu,” the paper says, noting that a total legislative freeze spares him from having to spar with the US over a separate controversial bill that would see Jerusalem expanded to include nearby Jewish settlements.
In an accompanying op-ed, former Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin blasts Netanyahu for trying to pass “corrupt legislation.”
“It’s clear that the corruption has reached Knesset, and not just a few ‘wild weeds,’ but has completely entrenched itself in our elected officials,” Diskin writes. “And even worse, this is being done without even one iota of shame.”
“This corrupt legislation must stop, and if it doesn’t, we, the citizens of Israel — from every end of the political spectrum — should take to the streets to protest against this despicable law.”
Unsurprisingly, the pro-Netanyahu Israel Hayom strikes a more more forgiving tone in its coverage of the coalition crisis.
The daily focuses on the backlash within the coalition sparked by the controversial legislation.
According to Israel Hayom, Likud ministers are blaming Bitan, not Netanyahu, for the crisis, warning the issue could force re-elections.
Unlike in Haaretz and Yedioth, Netanyahu gets off scot-free in Israel Hayom’s reporting of the recent events.
The paper says Netanyahu’s coalition is currently “nonfunctional” as a result of disagreements between Likud and Jewish Home, not the controversial legislation.
The Times of Israel Community.