Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Netanyahu Goes on Rant Against TV Reporter After Corruption Question

JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is being criticized for blasting a veteran television journalist in a statement responding to questions he was asked for an investigative report on his administration.

Ilana Dayan of the Channel 2 newsmagazine “Uvda,” or “Fact,” read the entire screed against her for nearly six minutes at the end of her hourlong broadcast Monday.

The statement, a response to a list of 32 written questions submitted to the Prime Minister’s Office in advance of the report, did not address any of the questions.

“It will be interesting to see if Ilana Dayan, who claims to be a defender of freedom of speech, will bring our full response without censorship,” the statement began. “It is time to peel the mask off the face of Ilana Dayan, who has shown once more that she has no professional integrity.

“Ilana Dayan is one of the leaders of an orchestrated attack on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intended to topple the right-wing government and bring about the establishment of a left-wing government.”

The report featured interviews with several former employees of the Prime Minister’s Office. Much of it alleged excessive involvement on behalf of Netanyahu’s wife, Sara. Most of the allegations were not new.

The Union of Journalists in Israel condemned Netanyahu’s response.

“We are against repeated attempts by the prime minister and those close to him to delegitimize professional journalists by labeling them politically,” the union said in a statement.

It added: “Elected officials are expected to answer the questions they are asked, and not to attack those who are asking them in the name of the public.”

Lawmakers from most political parties, including Netanyahu’s own Likud, criticized the prime minister for his response.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.