PM attacks former employee Naftali: He hit a co-worker, sexually harassed a woman
Following a support rally organized for him earlier this month, Netanyahu once again speaks to Likud activists, complaining about the media's coverage of him and his government and going on the offensive against former caretaker at PM's residence, Meni Naftali, who is now leading protests against him.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continued his attack against the media and the Left wing at a Likud rally on Wednesday, this time also targeting Meni Naftali, the former caretaker at the Prime Minister's Residence who sued the Netanyahu couple for mistreatment.
"He confessed to the police that he had committed improper acts and then requested and received immunity from self-incrimination," Netanyahu told some 1,500 supporters who gathered at the Avenue Conference Center in Airport City, near Ben Gurion Airport.
Among these improper acts, Netanyahu claimed Naftali had hit a co-worker and sexually harassed a woman, as well as filed a claim against the Defense Ministry for being unable to work "and claimed a few weeks later to have worked 400 hours a month."
Several Likud ministers were also in attendance, as well as Coalition Chairperson David Bitan and others Likud members of Knesset and Likud mayors.
Naftali, who partially won a lawsuit against the prime minister and his wife Sara, is one of the organizers of weekly demonstrations held in Petah Tikva near the home of Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, demanding that corruption allegations against Netanyahu's be investigated more thoroughly and without foot-dragging.
Netanyahu claimed that "Those demonstrations aimed at applying unacceptable pressure on law enforcement agencies to indict me at any price," and faulted the media for cover these demonstrations with enthusiasm, while giving Likud support rallies different coverage.
"See how they also cover our rallies," he said. "I saw a story on television that covered our last rally at the Tel Aviv Convention Center. Written with such passion, presenting us in such a (bad light). They don't just despise us, they despise something much deeper. They are actually contemptuous of the people's choice. They despise the democracy for which they supposedly speak."
The media, Netanyahu asserted, does "everything to hurt me and my wife, because they think that if they take us down, they will take us all down."
Moreover, the prime minister slammed the media for not investigating the pasts of Naftali and fellow organizer Eldad Yaniv, both of whom were recently arrested by police for allegedly calling on people to hold an illegal protest.
"The media is turning the leaders of these demonstrations into knights (championing) the rule of law," Netanyahu said. "What knights? What law? One of them (Yaniv), who is a member of the Labor Party, said in an interview, and I quote: 'The things I did were destructive and terrible. I have a fair share in the corruption of Israeli politics.'
"The media, of course, is coddling (Naftali and Yaniv) with endless glowing interviews. Not only did no one ask them about their pasts, one of the journalists even outdid himself and enthusiastically stated that one of them (Naftali) had recently set up an anti-corruption organization, no less.... There is no doubt that this is the most appropriate person to head an association fighting corruption," he sarcastically added.
Netanyahu continued his accusations against Naftali, wondering "How is it that as soon as he began to work as the chief caretaker of the Prime Minister's Residence, its food expenses surged and nearly doubled, and when he left the job the spending decreased?
"Of course, the media did not ask him why the expenses for cleaning materials in the house increased dramatically, or how come these expenses dropped to their previous level as soon as he left his position. Who ate that huge amount of food? It's not us, and it's not Kaya (the Netanyahu family dog), either. And what about the detergents? Did we eat the soaps?
"There are other things the media prefers to hide, such as someone who complained to the police that he saw the future chairman of the Anti-Corruption Association unload five to seven crates of food and detergent every week and bring them to his brother-in-law."
Netanyahu detailed a list of his government's accomplishments in recent years. "The truth is that our aggressive security policy has brought Israeli citizens the quietest years in recent decades. Our economic policy has bolstered the economy and brought unemployment down to its lowest point in 40 years. The security fences we built along the Sinai and across Golan Heights borders have curbed the flood of illegal migrants into our country and stopped ISIS terrorists from entering," he said.
"The ministers, the deputy ministers, the Knesset members, this group sitting here and the speaker of the Knesset are working around the clock for the good of the state," Netanyahu added. "We bring a record number of tourists to Israel, bring culture to the periphery, bring justice to the children of Yemen, and countless other things."
The prime minister lamented that the media "hardly cover(s) anything that our ministers do." Instead, he said, "they prefer to present Israel as an isolated state. They simply do not want Israeli citizens to see our success. It just doesn't fit their agenda, but what can you do, everyone can clearly see our success."
The prime minister wondered why the media is not calling to investigate "the five Knesset members who submitted the bill against Israel Hayom (which aimed to limit the free right-wing newspaper's influence), or the 43 MKs who voted for it. Or investigate a left-wing prime minister (Ehud Olmert) for receiving expensive pens at a value of over NIS 1 million and not from his close friends, but from contractors and businesspeople."
Netanyahu's second act
Earlier this month, some 2,000 Likud activists took part in a rally at the Tel Aviv Convention Center in support of Netanyahu, who is currently under police investigation in two cases.
"In recent days you have flooded us with support and love that I cannot recall receiving ever before," Netanyahu said in his speech at the time. "One of you wisely told me, 'they do not want to bring you down; they want to bring us down, all of us, the Likud and the national camp.'
"They know that they can't beat us at the polls, so they try to bypass democracy and topple us without elections," he said. "This is not without reason. They know we've come out as winners time after time in the elections, because we were the ones who put Israel in the best position in its history."
Netanyahu later elaborated on his specific grievances with the media, accusing it of "pumping fake news" against him into its outlets. Labeling it a "Junta operating 24/7," he went on to denounce it for allegedly trying to overthrow him.
Meanwhile, the protests rage on
Outside the venue, more than 100 evacuees from the illegal outpost of Migron in the West Bank protested, demanding that the prime minister fulfill his promises to the residents and his government's decision to build a permanent neighborhood for them.
For the past five years, residents of Migron have been waiting for the construction of the permanent neighborhood that was promised to them after the evacuation and demolition of their settlement in the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council in September 2012.
The evacuees started their demonstration by holding a "festive" toast, marking "five years of empty promises."
