Channel 10’s political reporter, Raviv Drucker, has been a major thorn in the side of Bibi Netanyahu, with his reporting that between his prime ministerships he took multiple foreign trips on the dime of major corporate donors in violation of government ethics guidelines. Bibi was so enraged by the reports that he sued the reporter and Channel 10 for libel. So far, all well and good. Drucker and his employer were only doing what good political reporters are supposed to do: afflict the comfortable.
But there’s a major wrinkle, in that Channel 10, which recently offered an abject apology to Sheldon Adelson for a documentary the station aired that recounted all the sleazy ways in which he operates, owes the state $10 million in royalties and fees. That puts Channel 10 between a rock and a hard place. If it can’t repay the debt by December it is in danger of going under.
That’s where Bibi comes in: the station received word that the State would work with the station to ease the repayment schedule and work out the debt if it fired Drucker or put him on unpaid leave. Bibi’s boys also demanded that the State Controller replace the chief investigator (Hebrew) probing this brewing scandal, which has come to be known as “Bibitours” (in an echo of Ehud Olmert’s travel scandal (Hebrew) that was focussed on his travel agency, Rishon Tours). Though he’s a tough guy, Bibi isn’t yet a tyrant with the ability to muscle anyone out of his way.
The prime minister’s urgent need to punish and dismiss anyone involved with uncovering details of this case indicates Bibi thinks it could be damaging to him. This in turn should make it even more attractive a story to any good investigative journalist left in Israel.
In any other democratic nation, such news would result in a major scandal, heads rolled and possibly a prime minister losing his job. After all, this is outright extortion, the way the mafia works rather than a democratic government. But in Israel, I’m afraid, business as usual. Freedom of the press is a principle honored in the breach, if at all.
Last June, Drucker received Israel’s Sokolov Prize for Journalism (awarded by the city of Tel Aviv) for the excellence of his reporting. This is what mafia chieftains like Bibi do to the best and brightest. They cut them down to size when they are a threat. I suppose Drucker is lucky he doesn’t get run over by a car or murdered by a bomb as they do in some countries.
Here is Drucker’s report:
I should point out that I have an interest in seeing Channel 10 survive, since its show Tzinor Layla features my stories irregularly and not many Israeli media outlets are beating down my doors to include my reporting in their coverage.
RE: “Raviv Drucker, has been a major thorn in the side of Bibi Netanyahu, with his reporting that between his prime ministerships he took multiple foreign trips on the dime of major corporate donors in violation of government ethics guidelines…[AND]…the State would work with the station to ease the repayment schedule and work out the debt if it fired Drucker or put him on unpaid leave.”
MY COMMENT: Hogwash! Israel would never do such a thing, because they “value diversity of opinions.”
HERE’S PROOF: Israel diplomat ‘accidentally’ attended lunch for Le Pen, Ma’an News Agency, 11/06/11
SOURCE – http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=435373
P.S. Unholy alliance: Israel’s right and Europe’s anti-Semites
PHOTO: Israel’s ambassador to the UN Ron Prosor accidentally smiles while rubbing shoulders with French ultra-right leader Marine Le Pen. – http://warincontext.org/2011/11/06/unholy-alliance-israels-right-and-europes-anti-semites/
“In any other democratic nation, such news would result in a major scandal, heads rolled and possibly a prime minister losing his job. After all, this is outright extortion, the way the mafia works rather than a democratic government. But in Israel, I’m afraid, business as usual” – Well, it seems that you forgot to tell that PM Netanyahu (I really can’t understand why you call him Bibi like he was your friend but nevermind) denies what Druker said and youforgot to tell that PM Netanyahu filed a lawsuit against Druker for not telling the truth and that this matter is under examination in court . I’m not saying what Druker isn’t telling the truth but it’s obiviously not “business as usual”. so maybe your conclusion was a little bit harsh. When one denies the allegations that other tells about him the court will decide what the truth is.
As I Read your post, I tend to guess that in the US anyone who is subject to these kind of allegations runs and quits from his job, even if these allegations are false. Is it true?
A little bit more information about the crisis that channel 10 got into – Do you know what is the total debt of this channel to the state of Israel? It’s about 40 million NIS. Do you know that channel 10 got its postponement to pay its debts? Do you know that not only channel 10 get another postponement to pay its debts? do you know that channels Keshet and Reshet which are both stuck in big debts to the state of Israel don’t get another postponement to pay their debts? It seems that you ignore these issues when you decide to blacken PM Netanyahu because of your ideology.
One more thing – Why don’t you, who praise the social protest in Israel, care about these millions which Israel collect andgive to its citizens? let’s say put it in education budget or maybe to fight car accidents or maybe even national security budget?
And last thing – I liked your proper disclousre about channel 10 and Tzinor Layla. I like this show. It’s one of the best.
I’ve just read what I wrote and I’m sorry for the mistakes..
” I’m not saying what Druker isn’t telling the truth” – Oops.
Do you know that Nachman Shai just said publicly that the government “has taken out a contract” on Channel 10? Do you know other stations which have asked for deferment of fees owed the gov’t have received one, except Channel 10? Do you know that the money Channel 10 owes is owed not to the gov’t (as you claim) but to the IBA, which has offered to defer payment?
I didn’t blacken Bibi. He blackened himself. Nor did I file the original report about this, Channel 10 did. If you don’t like the report tell Bibi to behave honorably & honestly. Then he won’t get into trouble.
And yes, no U.S. official would dare try anything like this because freedom of the press is a much stronger Constitutional principle here than it is in Israel.
“Do you know that Nachman Shai just said publicly that the government “has taken out a contract” on Channel 10?” – Yep, I heard Shai’s interview today. He didn’t provide any evidences for his accusation.
“Do you know other stations which have asked for deferment of fees owed the gov’t have received one, except Channel 10” – No they didn’t. You should recheck the facts.
Channel 10 got a 5 years postponement to pay its debts. If you heard MK shai’s interview you should know that.
“Do you know that the money Channel 10 owes is owed not to the gov’t (as you claim) but to the IBA” – IBA is the governmental institute. Therefore, channel 10 owes the money to people of israel which are representsed by the government.
One more thing – Mevaker Hamedina (I don’t know how to translate it to English) gave his findings about this incident. There weren’t any criminal findings.
But if anything is true, I agree with you it’s unetichal behavior.
“no U.S. official would dare try anything like this because freedom of the press” – And again, there isn’t any proof for that. And the one and only that will decide that is the court and bot the press.
Jonds: Please restrict yourself to no more than three comments per day. Otherwise, you start to monopolize the comment threads.
What I see are a lot of accusations against PM Netanyahu which may and many not be true. The New York Times joined in this AM with front page story designed to “get” Bibi, a disgraceful mishmash of innuendo and half truths, doing another good job of convicting the PM in news pages which are supposed to give both sides (“all the news that fit to print”). The only real context comes at the end of the article from one of Israel’s finest journalists, Avi Shavit, – that every party tries to do this while in power and that channel 10 has been riding roughshot over Netanyahu for 30 years.
I don’t know the details of the Netanyahu’s trips – and if he broke laws he should beheld accountable – but I do know how that the Israeli media has been violating their own professional standards for years in political advocacy and that the vast majority of it has been unabashedly on the Left, like the mainstream media and public radio and TV in the US. This situation may satisfy the appetites of fellow leftists, but THIS IS THE PROBLEM FOR DEMOCRACY. THE MEDIA SHOULD BE NEITHER LEFT NOR RIGHT BUT DO THEIR JOB IN A PROFESSIONAL WAY.
Finally, in reading your comments, JONDS who is the rare bird doing some actual questioning of the accusations is being muzzled for supposedly monopolizing comments that are few and far between – a prime example of the censoring of opposing views .
It seems we have a new hasbara flight that’s just landed fr Ben Gurion. You must read the comment rules for this site before publishing another here. First, do not monopolize the threads. Five comments in a few hrs time is too many, ESP for a newbie. Second, if your goal is to complain about my editing or management of anything at this site, that’s neither yr job or commentary I’m interested in hearing. It’s my site & I run it as I choose. If you don’t like it you’re welcome to move on or stay & accept the terms.
As for Eytan Bronner “bashing” Bibi spare us. Bronner pulls far too many punches on this government’s behalf. What you want is for the Times to turn into YisraelHayom & that ain’t gonna happen. The mission of a newspaper is to be fair to both sides but to present a coherent narrative. You simply don’t like the narrative. The fact is that Bibi himself wrote the narrative and you’re saddled with it whether you like it or not. He had a choice to close down Channel 10 or not and chose to do so. He’ll have to live with the media fallout fr that choice.
You’ve not surprisingly mischaracterized Ari Shavit’s comments. He neither said nor could’ve said that Channel 10 has been out to get Bibi for 30 yrs because it hasn’t existed that long. What he did say is that PMs have sparred with the press always, but he couldn’t have said that prior PMs acted as Bibi did because no previous PM has shut down an entire channel as an act of political revenge. That’s a new development in Israeli political life for which we have him and his far right friends to thank.
Saying the Israeli media is leftist is merely resorting to Limbaughesque & Beckian paranoia. The Israeli media is no more left wing ane U,S. Media is. No doubt you believe this canard as well. Which tells us that you’re a FoxNews/Yisrael Hayom kinda guy.
I didn’t include Jewish federations in my list because they’re ostensibly non-partisan. My point was to talk about groups that take political and public policy positions on issues of the day. As for your overly generous praise of Foxman, gimme a break.
I have no interest in arguing over UN resolutions. There are countless sites where you may do that. Not here. As for the alleged “Arab aggression” of 1967, seems to me you’ve developed a case of deep historical amnesia, forgetting that Israel attacked the Arab states preemptively, which would in fact make Israel the “agressive” party. But again we’ve argued out the 1967 War here numerous times & won’t do it again. If that’s what you need to do again you’re going to have to do it elsewhere.
In a democratic country, the prime minister looses his job if he looses the confidence of his fellow party members in the Parliament and/or of coalition partners.
The principal coalition partner is Israel Beitenu, whose boss, multi-talented Avigdor Lieberman made money in a more straightforward way: his daughter runs a lucrative consulting company, if I recall. Investigation drugged incredibly long and seems to die out. Another coalition partner is more renown of its piety than financial probity.
Another piece of news from Daily Telegraph: high costs of Israeli TV channels were attributed to a Knesset decision to force TV channels to move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The unique situation of Channel 10 is that its owners several years ago refused to invest any more fresh money in the company, so basically it is an unwanted ugly child of its tycoon parents.