Netanyahu urges Likud MKs to attack the press

PM convenes candidates for festive event to celebrate their victory in the December 31 primary and to listen to speeches on the party's strategy for March 17 election.

By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a Likud convening, January 25, 2015 (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a Likud convening, January 25, 2015
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called upon the Likud’s candidates for the next Knesset Sunday to fight not only Labor but also the media ahead of the March 17 election.
Netanyahu convened the candidates for a festive event to celebrate their victory in the December 31 primary and to listen to speeches on the party’s strategy for the election by himself and by Likud strategist Aron Shaviv.
The candidates were presented a poll that found that the public believes the Israeli media despises Netanyahu.
The prime minister urged the candidates to use that statistic to the Likud’s benefit.
“Fight the press like men,” he said.
Netanyahu painted the candidates on the Labor-Hatnua list as anti-Zionists who are desperate to make risky concessions to Israel’s enemies.
“This is not the old Labor party,” he said. “That party disappeared and was replaced by left-wing extremists.
New video clips were presented at the event portraying Labor-Hatnua leaders Isaac Herzog and Tzipi Livni fighting over the phone when the IDF chief calls and Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah saying he wants Herzog to become prime minister.
Netanyahu divided the country into regions and assigned them to ministers and MKs. For instance, MK Tzipi Hotovely and candidate Yehuda Glick will be in charge of Judea and Samaria and MKs Ze’ev Elkin and Tzachi Hanegbi will be in charge of Jerusalem.
Hotovely, who is still fighting over a realistic slot on the list, made a point of attending the event, while her sparring partner, former public security minister Avi Dichter, missed it due to a family function.
Hotovely asked the Tel Aviv District Court Sunday to prevent a recount of votes that she and Dichter received but the court declined. The votes they received will be counted at Likud headquarters Monday morning.
“I will be in the next Knesset,” Dichter said. “I’ve fought all my life and I won’t back down now.”