Netanyahu condemns Magal's "monkey" slur on Eisenkot

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned Channel 14 host Yinon Magal's description of Yesh! party leader Gadi Eisenkot as a "monkey" on Sunday, calling it "a very unworthy remark," but immediately tied the condemnation to a demand that Eisenkot denounce anti-Likud slurs in return.

"This is a very unworthy remark, I condemn it," Netanyahu said in an interview on Gadi Nes's program on Radio Tzafon 104.5FM, referring to Magal's claim that Eisenkot is controlled by "elitist Ashkenazim." But the prime minister added at once: "I would be happy if Gadi Eisenkot would condemn all the remarks by Gali Albin and others that Likudniks are chimpanzees and baboons. That's not worthy and this is not worthy."

Asked about the return of ethnic rhetoric to the political campaign, Netanyahu claimed that offensive language is directed daily at the right-wing camp. "We didn't run away from it, even though Yanon said something he shouldn't have said," he said. "Every day I hear the condescension, the patronizing and the contempt poured on Likud voters, calling them monkeys, baboons and chimpanzees."

Netanyahu went on to attack the political discourse directed at him personally, accusing Eisenkot of failing to condemn it and even participating in it. "Day after day they accuse me, the prime minister of Israel who dedicated my life to the state, risked my life for the state and continue to dedicate my life to the state - and they call me a traitor," he said. He recalled the period before Yitzchak Rabin's assassination, noting that he stood at demonstrations then and made clear that Rabin was not a traitor but mistaken. "Does Gadi condemn that?" he asked. "Gadi Eisenkot not only doesn't condemn it, he uses it personally against me."

Ahead of the elections, the prime minister expressed open concern about his chances of forming the next government. "We need to ensure that we win, I'm not confident of my victory and I'm very worried," he admitted. He used the platform to attack his political rivals, among them Eisenkot, Naftali Bennett and Avigdor Lieberman, warning that a government led by them would be dependent on the support of the Arab parties.

Despite his fear of losing, he delivered an unequivocal statement about his political future. Asked whether he would leave the political arena if he fails to form a government, he answered firmly: "No, I will not step down from political life."

The storm over Magal's remarks erupted during his program "The Patriots," when he turned to journalist Amichai Attali and said of Eisenkot: "They put a monkey with all the elitist Ashkenazim behind him running him. Manlis runs him and tells him what to say. He's a monkey."

The remark drew widespread anger even on the right, with Likud court member David Elbaz publishing a post in which he asked forgiveness from Eisenkot as a Moroccan and a Likudnik.