Bibi: I Speak To Sheldon Adelson On Average 0.75 Times A Week

Sheldon Adelson

By Nathan Guttman August 31, 2017

Responding to criticism that he had maintained an open line with the heads of Israel’s largest daily newspaper, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he talked to owner Sheldon Adelson “.75 times a week.”

Adelson, a Las Vegas casino magnate and Republican mega-donor, also owns Israel Hayom, a daily newspaper usually viewed as supportive of Netanyahu.

In a Facebook post Netanyahu said he has “nothing to hide” regarding his talks with Adelson and with the paper’s former chief editor Amos Regev. “Adelson has been a close friend of mine for 30 years and I’m glad to speak to him from time to time,” Netanyahu wrote. “Between the years 2012-2015 I had on average 0.75 calls a week with him.”

That odd arithmetic adds up to about 40 calls a year.

In his Facebook post Netanyahu claimed it is not uncommon for politicians to speak to reporters, editors and publishers and that, “once in a while, after I finish my day’s work late at night, I also talk to members of the press.”

Contact Nathan Guttman at [email protected] or on Twitter @nathanguttman

Nathan Guttman, staff writer, was the Forward’s Washington bureau chief. He joined the staff in 2006 after serving for five years as Washington correspondent for the Israeli dailies Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post. In Israel, he was the features editor for Ha’aretz and chief editor of Channel 1 TV evening news. He was born in Canada and grew up in Israel. He is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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