It is actually no surprise, but as opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu leads in the polls, the mainstream media is being true to form, and it is already beginning to dig into the private lives of Binyamin and his wife Sara, seeking scoops that are generally suitable for tabloids, not major national newspapers. Bashing the first right-wing couple has become a popular media event over recent years.

In Tuesday’s Yediot Achronot for example, two entire pages are devoted to the fact that Mrs. Sara Netanyahu is still negotiating the return of gifts confiscated by police in a 1999 investigation against the then prime minister. No indictment was ever filed, and most of the gifts were returned, but apparently there are tens of gifts that Mrs. Netanyahu wants returned, and the newspaper devotes two pages to giving appraisers’ worth to items of little worth, seemingly a matter that interests the nation.

The media in Israel plays a major role in an election, as it does in any country, but in Israel, the ‘agenda’ of the mainstream press is painfully obvious, to the point that one would hope readers see between the lines, but unfortunately, this is not always the case.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)