Left-Wing Pols Wish They Had Hostile Press To Attack, Blame

“Haaretz, at least, should know better, with its out-in-the-open prioritizing of political change over journalistic integrity.”

Tel Aviv, January 10 – Members of Israel’s political Opposition and adherents of parties or ideologies at odds with the governing right-wing coalition expressed resignation today over the fact that the mainstream media support the Opposition, thus depriving the Left of the ability to secure electoral advantage by painting itself as victims of a hostile press.

Leaders of Meretz and the Zionist Union alliance between Labor and HaTnua joined several members of the Joint List in commiserating over the situation, which they characterized as hurting their chances of deposing Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in the next elections, scheduled to take place no later than next year. If the media do not begin antagonizing the Left, they worry, and reserve all their skepticism and vitriol for Netanyahu and his allies, unseating the right-wing from several consecutive terms in power will prove all but impossible.

“We’ve tried everything,” fumed a frustrated Tzipi Livni, founder and Chairwoman of HaTnua. “From engaging in the same behavior as our ideological opponents to embracing short-sighted, destructive policy platforms – in other words, everything we accuse Likud and the Right in general of doing – but the journalists and commentators of the main media outlets just ignore it, excuse it, or explain it away. How are we supposed to generate enough popular outrage and resentment at being on the receiving end of hostile criticism, and then parlay that into votes?”

Labor chief Avi Gabbay noted the irony of the situation. “The media have a left-leaning bias,” he acknowledged. “That much has been clear for a long time. What I can’t wrap my head around is why the media would knowingly prolong Netanyahu’s hold on the premiership by antagonizing him and his base. Haaretz, at least, should know better, with its out-in-the-open prioritizing of political change over journalistic integrity.”

“At least our incompetence should attract criticism,” lamented a rueful Dov Henin of Hadash. “If the editorial attitude at Ynet, for example, would start tearing apart my party’s laughable grasp of economics, liberty, and history, we could then point to that adversarial coverage and claim to be victims of the media elite.”

“Of course the Joint List’s bread and butter is playing the victim, so I’m not sure how anyone would be able to tell the difference,” he mused. “Hey, I know- we should make it mandatory by law to have the media criticize each party evenly, regardless of the individual parties’ impact, policies, and behavior, and that way everyone would be on an even electoral footing. Excuse me, I have some legislation to draft.”

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