כיכר השבת

Culture Minister Miki Zohar Slams Media Over Netanyahu Trial Remarks

Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar launched a fierce counterattack Wednesday against what he called a “coordinated media campaign” to discredit him and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “Large parts of the Israeli media, which have been trying to topple Netanyahu for years without success, chose to take my words from this morning’s radio interview out of context,” Zohar wrote in a social media post. Zohar had come under fire for comments viewed by critics as downplaying the significance of the October 7 Hamas massacre. He rejected that interpretation outright, saying: “You will not succeed in twisting my words to make it seem like I disrespected, God forbid, the events of October 7 — and the public won’t buy it either.” The minister stood by his position that Netanyahu’s corruption trial has “deeply harmed” Israeli unity, calling it “bad for the country” and part of a broader effort by political and media opponents to bring down the government at any cost. “They don’t care how much Netanyahu has done for Israel,” Zohar added. “As far as they’re concerned, let the country burn as long as they get what they want: Netanyahu’s fall.”