Israeli TV Coverage Highlights Netanyahu Contradictions as New Media Law Advances

A Hebrew-language commentary on Thursday said Channel 12’s Dafna Liel set up the night’s biggest media moment with a segment about the financial benefits expected for owners of Channels 14 and i24, worth tens of millions of shekels, under regulatory changes being advanced in the so-called communications law. The piece argued that, if Netanyahu’s trial alleges that buying friendly coverage in exchange for benefits can amount to bribery, then what he once did privately for Shaul Elovitch he is now doing openly through his communications minister and a Knesset member he placed on his list for the last election, this time for Yitzhak Mirilashvili and Patrick Drahi, whose channels reportedly cover him favorably.