TV Host Calls Opposition Leader 'Monkey Controlled by Ashkenazim'

By חדשות סרוגים

Translated & summarized from Srugim by baba

Religious-rightCharged tone

Hebrew · 15 newsrooms covering

Plus

TV host Yinon Magal called opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot a "monkey controlled by Ashkenazim" ten days before elections. The Hatnua Party labeled the remark racist, while Eisenkot dismissed it as beneath him but criticized the person behind Magal. A member of Yisrael Beiteinu called the comment abhorrent and proof of Netanyahu's loss of control. The party vowed to remove Netanyahu from power on October 27th.

The story in 6 lines · by baba

Yinon Magal called opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot a "monkey controlled by Ashkenazim" on air.
The Hatnua Party claims the remark is racist and targets Eisenkot's Mizrahi heritage.
Gadi Eisenkot responded by refusing to engage with the low-level insult.
Rafi Ben Shitrit of Yisrael Beiteinu called the comment peak racism and Netanyahu's campaign tactic.
Ben Shitrit vowed to remove Netanyahu from power on October 27th.
The incident is compared to a past controversial statement that influenced the 1981 elections.

TV Host Calls Opposition Leader 'Monkey Controlled by Ashkenazim' — Editorial illustration generated by baba News, not a photograph of the event.

Yinon Magal, host of the television program 'The Patriots,' referred to Gadi Eisenkot, chairman of the Hatnua Party, as a "monkey controlled by Ashkenazim" during a broadcast. The remark, made just 10 days before elections, could potentially harm the Likud party's electoral prospects, drawing parallels to a past controversial statement by Dudu Topaz that influenced the 1981 elections. The Hatnua Party has denounced the comment as racist, asserting that Eisenkot was called a "monkey" specifically because he is of Mizrahi descent. Eisenkot responded during an election rally, stating he would not engage with such a low level of discourse. He suggested the real issue was not Magal but the person behind him, and vowed to bring change to Israel, eradicating "Magalism and Bardugoyism" for a better nation. Rafi Ben Shitrit, a member of the Yisrael Beiteinu party, criticized Magal's statement as a new low, calling the use of "monkey" to describe a former IDF chief of staff and bereaved father the "peak of distilled and abhorrent racism" and a product of Netanyahu's campaign tactics. Ben Shitrit added that Magal's words demonstrate Netanyahu and his spokespeople have lost their way and their minds, promising to remove Netanyahu and his allies from power on October 27th to start a new path for Israel.