Not everything Netanyahu has said in his marathon of interviews with the Hebrew media ahead of the election is entirely accurate.
By GIL HOFFMANPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu whispering in a cabinet meeting on July 23, 2018(photo credit: ALEX KOLOMOISKY / POOL)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has continued his marathon of interviews ahead of Tuesday’s election.After an examination – published in Friday’s Jerusalem Post – found that not everything Netanyahu has said over the past two weeks was entirely accurate, here are seven more incorrect statements he has made in interviews:1) Rockets on South: In a Channel 13 interview on Saturday night, Ayala Hasson asked Netanyahu how many rockets have been fired in the last year and a half. After he answered “A few hundred,” Hasson corrected him and said 1,800.2) Interview with Al Jazeera: Netanyahu told both Army Radio’s Yani Cozin and Channel 13’s Udi Segal in interviews on Sunday that he has interviewed with Al Jazeera. “I interviewed there, and there they let me talk,” he said. But sources at Al Jazeera said that not only has Netanyahu not interviewed with the network, neither have any of his cabinet ministers since Naftali Bennett did in 2014. Al Jazeera Jerusalem producer Mimi Daher tweeted an interview request to Netanyahu on Sunday night.3) Opposing Iran deal: Netanyahu keeps saying that his competition in Blue and White, Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid, supported the international community’s JCPOA deal with Iran. Lapid’s efforts against the deal were reported in Friday’s article. Gantz pointed out on Sunday that he also opposed the deal, which was signed after he left the IDF, but he recommended ways to make the best of the situation. “Whether good or bad, it’s a done deal” he said then, and that Israel needs to make the best of it via international intelligence cooperation.4) South fence: Netanyahu in interviews on Sunday said that Gantz and Lapid opposed building the security fence on the Egyptian border that helped end the influx of migrant workers. Both supported the fence.5) Blaming Blue and White strategist: Netanyahu said in a statement on Friday evening that Blue and White’s American strategist Joel Benenson was behind a false leak about Israel spying against the White House. His accusation has been vigorously denied.6) Blue and White’s finance minister: Netanyahu told Army Radio that while he took steps that gave Israel one of the world’s strongest economies, Blue and White would appoint former Histadrut Labor Federation chief MK Avi Nissenkorn as finance minister if the party forms the government. This has been denied for months by Nissenkorn, Gantz and Lapid.7) Mozes meetings: Defending his own role in criminal cases involving the media, Netanyahu told Army Radio that Lapid was never probed for his “dozens of secret meetings” in a secret location with Yediot Aharonot publisher Arnon Mozes. Lapid denied the accusation on Sunday.
The Post reviewed recent interviews with Gantz and did not find inaccuracies. Despite a request by The Post, the Likud Party declined to submit examples of incorrect statements by Gantz.
