Bibi Releases His Inner Trump, Ripping Into Media ‘Witch Hunt’

By Daniel J. Solomon August 11, 2017

As a financial scandal threatens the continued reign of Benjamin Netanyahu as Israel’s prime minister, is he going full Trump? As the premier attacks the media and rallies his base, some say the answer is yes.

Bibi released his inner Trump at a rally last night to shore up his support as possible indictments await him in relation to his connection with foreign businessmen. He characterized the investigation as a leftist “putsch,” and the crowd loved the red meat.

“The Left and the media — which are one and the same — are on an obsessive, unprecedented witch hunt against me and my family,” he said, according to Jewish Insider. He added: “And the ‘fake news media’ doesn’t talk about all the charity work Sarah does all the time for Holocaust survivors and kids with cancer.”

In addition to Trumpian words and themes, the spirit in the crowd seemed similar to that found at a Trump rally. Some wore shirts and held signs referring to fake news. And there was a hostility toward reporters there. Raoul Wootliff, a journalist at the Times of Israel, said on Twitter that he was called a “journalist shit,” a “traitor and a “homo.”

Contact Daniel J. Solomon at solomon@forward.com or on Twitter [@DanielJSolomon) or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon

Daniel J. Solomon is the former Assistant to the Editor/News Writer at the Forward. Originally from Queens, he attended Harvard as an undergraduate, where he wrote his senior thesis on French-Jewish intellectual history. He is excited to have returned to New York after his time in Massachusetts. Daniel’s passions include folk music, cycling, and pointed argument.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO