Deri joins ministers opposed to media chief’s appointment

Shas leader and Minister of the Negev and Galilee Aryeh Deri has joined the growing number of government members opposed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s controversial pick for new media chief.

The appointment of Ran Baratz made headlines this week after it was revealed that he had in the past made derogatory comments about President Reuven Rivlin and US Secretary of State John Kerry, and had accused US President Barack Obama of anti-Semitism.

“Deri hopes and believes that the prime minister will reconsider his appointment, as he has already said he would,” sources close to the minister told Haaretz Saturday.

However, a day earlier, Netanyahu denied reports that he was reconsidering appointing Baratz to the powerful position; rather, he tweeted that he would “deal with the matter” when he returned from his visit to the US next week.

Deri joins two Likud ministers — Minister for Social Equality Gila Gamliel and Welfare Minister Haim Katz — who on Thursday called on Netanyahu to reconsider the nomination in light Baratz’s comments, and said they would vote against his appointment in a cabinet vote.

The Haaretz report said that a number of other ministers opposed Baratz’s appointment, but had not yet made their views public.

On Wednesday, Baratz, a 42-year-old former university lecturer, was tapped by Netanyahu as his new National Information Directorate chief. However, within hours of the announcement, a slew of his controversial comments came to light. These included Facebook posts in which he said Obama’s foreign policy vis-à-vis Iran and Israel amounted to “modern anti-Semitism,” and mocked numerous other leading figures including Kerry — who, he suggested, had the mental age of a child — Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon.

While Netanyahu, who said he was unaware of Baratz’s comments when he made the appointment, has not rescinded Baratz’s nomination, he has distanced himself from his incoming adviser. The prime minister on Thurday called the remarks “inappropriate,” and insisted they did not “reflect my positions or the policy of this government.”

Baratz’s appointment still has to be approved by the cabinet, and since the Wednesday announcement, a growing number of lawmakers from across the political spectrum were calling on Netanyahu to reconsider the nomination.

Gamliel said the remarks could “undermine the symbols of our government and those of our greatest ally, and may be misunderstood as an official position,” while Katz said Baratz’s comments “indicate that he isn’t suitable for the position.”

Opposition leader Isaac Herzog (Zionist Union) said the remarks should immediately disqualify Baratz from the position. “A person who lashed out at President Obama, slandered Secretary of State Kerry and worst of all, humiliated the dear president of our country, has to be sent home immediately,” he said.

The storm over the appointment of Baratz has soured preparations for Netanyahu’s meeting with Obama at the White House on Monday.

Baratz’s comments about the president and the secretary are “troubling and offensive,” State Department Spokesman John Kirby said Thursday. “We understand the prime minister will be reviewing this appointment when he returns from his visit to the United States.”

“We obviously expect government officials from any country, especially our closest allies, to speak respectfully and truthfully about senior US government officials,” said Kirby, adding that “it’s a rule you learn in kindergarten about name-calling and it’s simply not a polite thing to do.”

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said that Baratz’s apology for his incendiary comments was “warranted.” He added that the incident would not harm US-Israel relations.

Netanyahu is set to meet Obama in Washington on Monday for the first time in a year, in what is intended to be a meeting aimed at healing relations after the bruising public row between the prime minister and the president over the world powers’ nuclear deal with Iran.

Baratz apologized for his comments Thursday, saying he regretted posting “the hurtful things that I published online in relation to the president, the US president and other public officials.”

“I’m sorry that I didn’t inform the prime minister in advance about them. These postings were written hastily and sometimes humorously, in a manner appropriate for a private person writing on the Internet,” he stated. He said it was “clear” he would have to behave differently in his official role, and that he would try to clarify things with Netanyahu.

Baratz also sent an email to The New York Times, saying that “what I most regret is using the word anti-Semitism in relation to President Obama. “Even in the context of a heated debate in which there were strong passions over the nuclear deal with Iran, such language should have never been used to describe President Obama,” Baratz wrote. “It’s not true and I deeply regret having done so.”