Defending Likud get-together on world Holocaust Day, minister claims it has bolstered Holocaust coverage
‘I don’t remember anyone deciding there can be no celebrations on this day,’ Miri Regev says; attacks media ‘lies’ about PM’s alleged corruption
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Culture Minister Miri Regev on Friday defended the Likud’s decision to hold a retreat for party activists in Eilat on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, saying that thanks to the political event, the memorial day has never had so much exposure.
“International Holocaust Remembrance Day has never been covered as much as it has this year — thanks to the ‘Likudiada,'” she said from the conference in the resort city.
She noted that the retreat’s schedule for Friday began with a minute of silence, adding the day was marked in the Knesset this week and that members of Likud hold the solemn day dear to their hearts.
As such, Regev said, there was no room to criticize the party’s actions.
“When it comes to Likud, people are always after us,” she said. “I don’t remember anyone deciding that there can be no events or celebrations on this day.”
Regev also criticized the ongoing police investigations into Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was questioned for a third time Friday over two separate suspected corruption cases.
“What Prime Minister Netanyahu and his family have been going through in the past few weeks is a public and media lynching, via the media and the Left,” she said.
“Night after night of leaks full of lies,” she continued. “And he is prevented from responding… because he is under investigation.”
She added: “There’s an anti-Bibi virus [being spread against him]… We send him and his wife Sara and his family our solidarity.”
The prime minister is reportedly suspected and/or being questioned in four separate cases — of which one has yet to be revealed — including allegedly accepting gifts from businessmen and plotting a quid pro quo with a top newspaper owner in order to receive more favorable coverage.
The third investigation involves the purchase of submarines from a German shipbuilder represented in Israel by Netanyahu’s personal lawyer.
Police questioning at the prime minister’s Jerusalem office on Friday morning involved the gifts and the newspaper coverage, dubbed Case 1000 and Case 2000, respectively. The submarine deal is known as Case 3000 and the unspecified fourth probe is Case 4000.
The Times of Israel Community.