Israeli prime minister Netanyahu is in a war of words against Israeli Journalist and investigative reporter, Raviv Drucker. The prime minister has made several facebook posts complaining about the reporter and going as far as to call Raviv's colleagues at the Channel 10 television.
Journalist angered Netanyahu by reporting on his lavish holidays and trips
The journalist has reported that Netanyahu's son and family have received lavish gifts from an Australian businessman who is involved in business deals with the Israeli government, making the matter look as a sort of bribery case, thus embarrassing the family and causing occurrent news headlines in Israel.
In one of his latest posts, Netanyahu complained via his facebook account: “It is amusing to see these same journalists explain their smear campaign against me and my family with the explanation that the ‘media needs to criticize the government".
The prime minister has a rocky relationship with Israeli media
Other journalists and news stations have been a target of the politician in the past, who is not social media shy and has numerous times taken his frustrations to facebook posts. Netanyahu has also expressed his desire to shut down the country’s public broadcasting authority and make freedom of expression more strict, drawing big criticism and complaints. His actions have caused a downgrade of freedom of the press, rating the country “partly free” by US NGO Freedom House Organization, making Israel not much different from his neighboring Arab states.
Saudi Arabia for example, has no freedom of expression or journalism. Disobedient media refuses to follow his strict rules and are often in hot waters with the politician, finding themselves target via social media. “The media is the new Arabs” said Israeli journalist Udi Segal to a newspaper. The decisions to control media and journalism raises questions about Israel's stand on democracy, often times Netanyahu is seen saying to international media "Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East".
