Netanyahu loyalist calls PM a ‘jerk’ for backing non-Likud mayor candidate
TV airs leaked recording of MK Miki Zohar criticizing premier, after last-minute endorsement of Yossi Bachar in Bat Yam
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleMichael Bachner is a news editor at The Times of Israel
In a leaked recording of a phone call, a loyalist of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the premier behaved like a “jerk” in endorsing one of the candidates for mayor in a city in central Israel.
MK Miki Zohar (Likud) made the comments criticizing his party’s leader in a conversation Monday with a Likud activist in the city of Bat Yam, just south of Tel Aviv, where some 130,000 residents will vote in mayoral elections on Tuesday, Hadashot TV news reported.
Netanyahu had shocked many in the city earlier in the day by publishing a video message in support of incumbent mayor Yossi Bachar, who is running against the candidate endorsed by the Likud party, Tzvika Brot.
The latest polls predict a close race between Bachar and Brot, who was US President Donald Trump’s campaign manager in Israel during the 2016 presidential elections.
באופן חריג: ראש הממשלה נתניהו @netanyahu קורא לתושבי בת- ים שלא להצביע מחר למועמדה הרשמי של תנועת הליכוד בעיר, צביקה ברוט, אלה לתמוך במועמד יוסי בכר העומד בראש סיעה עצמאית "בת- ים בראש מורם". השר לשעבר גדעון סער @gidonsaar דווקא פרסם סרטון תמיכה בברוט. @ynetalerts @moran_ynet pic.twitter.com/fpnLveyWrB
— איתי בלומנטל ???????? Itay Blumental (@ItayBlumental) October 29, 2018
“Bat Yam is gaining momentum, and Yossi Bachar is driving that momentum,” Netanyahu said in his message. “It is important that this momentum doesn’t stop and therefore it’s important to support Yossi Bachar.”
In recent months, Likud had actively supported and campaigned for Brot, with senior figures such as Intelligence Minister Israel Katz urging the public to vote for him.
משתתף בכנס התמיכה הגדול של צביקה ברוט, מועמד הליכוד לראשות העיר בת ים. בהצלחה! pic.twitter.com/zBWUS62r6F
— דודי אמסלם ???????? (@dudiamsalem) July 12, 2018
Netanyahu’s surprise endorsement the day before the vote angered Brot’s team, and an activist called MK Zohar to discuss what he termed “the terror attack Bibi did to me here in Bat Yam,” the report said.
Zohar responded by saying Netanyahu had behaved like a “manyak,” which in Hebrew is translatable as “jerk” or “asshole.”
Zohar said that he thought the prime minister had been “misled” to believe that Brot had been working with political campaigner Shlomo Filber, who has been enlisted as a state witness in Case 4000, one of several corruption investigations against Netanyahu.
In that case, Netanyahu is suspected of advancing regulatory decisions as communications minister — while Filber was the ministry’s director-general — and as prime minister benefiting Shaul Elovitch, the controlling shareholder in Bezeq, the country’s largest telecommunications firm. Police suspect that in exchange, the prime minister received positive coverage from Elovitch’s Walla news site, in what they say may have constituted bribery.
Zohar asked the activist not to reveal his name as the source for the information he provided. The activist was not named in the TV report.
In a response to the report, Likud said the party’s municipal steering committee “decided to support current mayor Yossi Bachar, a Likud member who according to our polls has the greatest winning chances. Accordingly, Netanyahu declared his support for Bachar.”
Zohar, in his response, reiterated his belief that Netanyahu had been misled and made the wrong decision in the Bat Yam race, adding that “nobody can dispute my loyalty to the prime minister.”
“Unfortunately, my criticism was leaked from a private conversation and I definitely regret that,” he added. “I will continue strengthening Likud and the prime minister, and will occasionally disagree with him on significant issues important to Likud and to his success as prime minister.”
Some have speculated that Netanyahu’s last-minute endorsement of Bachar came due to a message of support for Brot published Monday morning by former Likud minister Gideon Sa’ar, whom Netanyahu accused last week of orchestrating a “putsch” against him.
Sa’ar is a popular former Likud strongman seen as a potential challenger to Netanyahu. The premier accused him last week of trying to orchestrate a “coup” that would see him ascend to the Likud leadership and the prime-ministership after the next elections.
Sa’ar has demanded that Netanyahu either provide evidence or retract his claim.
The Times of Israel Community.