From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, March 19, 2025
Amid probe of his aides, Netanyahu attacks ‘leftist Deep State’ in the US and Israel
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tries to liken his political opposition to that of Donald Trump, employing some of the same rhetoric used by the US president to dismiss his critics.
“In America and in Israel, when a strong right-wing leader wins an election, the leftist Deep State weaponizes the justice system to thwart the people’s will. They won’t win in either place! We stand strong together,” Netanyahu tweets from his official “prime minister” account.
Less than a half hour after the tweet is posted, Netanyahu deletes it from his official account and posts the same message from his personal account.
In America and in Israel, when a strong right wing leader wins an election, the leftist Deep State weaponizes the justice system to thwart the people's will. They won't win in either place!
We stand strong together.— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) March 19, 2025
The post comes shortly after police said they detained and questioned under caution two suspects as part of an ongoing investigation into whether thousands of dollars were funneled from Qatar to one or more of Netanyahu’s aides.
Earlier this week, the Axios news site quoted aides to the prime minister saying that Netanyahu decided to move ahead with his planned firing of Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar in early February, after leaving his trip to Washington inspired by the moves Trump took “against the deep state” and his appointment of loyalists to key posts.
