Israel Broadcasters Were Ordered To Edit Bibi’s Speech If He Strayed Into Campaigning

It’s no secret that the White House, as well as Democrats in the House and Senate, felt a lot of chagrin about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu giving a speech to a joint session of Congress while he was in the home stretch of his reelection campaign. Well, it urns out election officials in Israel were concerned about the speech as well. Concerned enough, in fact, that they ordered the country’s radio and television stations to be ready to edit out any statements from Netanyahu that strayed into outright campaigning.

An election poster for Benjamin Netanyahu during the 2009 campaign (courtesy Wikimedia Commons)
An election poster for Benjamin Netanyahu during the 2009 campaign (courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

The UK’s Daily Telegraph discovered that two weeks ago, the three main opposition groupings in the Knesset–the Labour Party, Hatunah, and Meeretz–asked Israel’s central election committee to ban any broadcast of Netanyahu’s speech. The committee decided to let the broadcast go ahead–but required that it air on a five-minute delay. According to committee chairman Salim Jourdan, who is also a judge on the Israeli Supreme Court, this was necessary in order to give stations time to edit out anything that could be “construed as election campaigning.”

With this action, the central election committee effectively validated the main objection that was raised to Netanyahu’s speech. When you cut past all the hype, all you are left with is a prime minister who, while seeking reelection, used a joint session of Congress for what amounted to a stump speech. That is inappropriate, plain and simple. I’d say that if it were someone with whom I agreed 100 percent–and if I’d been a Senator or Congressman, I’d have skipped such a speech for that very reason. Jourdan and his committee should be applauded for coming to the same conclusion. This has to stand as one of the sharpest rebukes that a sitting prime minister in a democratic country has received in a long time.

From the looks of it, ordinary Israelis had severe misgivings about the speech as well. A poll by Army Radio, one of Israel’s most popular radio stations, found that a whopping 47 percent of respondents wanted Bibi to scrub the speech and stay home. With a “nyet” that loud, it could be very difficult for Bibi to form a government if his Likud party finishes first in the election.? In elections to the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, votes are cast for nationwide party lists. A party or bloc of parties has to win at least 3.25 percent of the vote to get a seat in the Knesset. Although only three parties (or their antecedents) in Israel have ever headed governments, the low threshold and the nationwide party-list system make it nearly impossible for one party to win the 61 seats needed for an outright majority in the 120-seat chamber.

From the looks of it, Netanyahu was taking a lot of heat for this speech back home even before he left for Washington. And if that Army Radio poll is any indication, it could bite him again a lot sooner than later.

Darrell is a 30-something graduate of the University of North Carolina who considers himself a journalist of the old school. An attempt to turn him into a member of the religious right in college only succeeded in turning him into the religious right's worst nightmare--a charismatic Christian who is an unapologetic liberal. His desire to stand up for those who have been scared into silence only increased when he survived an abusive three-year marriage. You may know him on Daily Kos as Christian Dem in NC. Follow him on Twitter @DarrellLucus or connect with him on Facebook. Click here to buy Darrell a Mello Yello.