New Media in Israel

This issue of the Newsletter covers the period 18-21 February 2018. Israeli social media networks were preoccupied with two issues. Most notably, social media activists were taken up by the new investigation of Benjamin Netanyahu.

Early this week, the Israeli police announced that eminent personalities of Bezeq, an Israeli telecommunications company, and confidantes of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu had been arrested in the course of investigations into the so-called Case 4000. Last week, the police made an official recommendation to charge Netanyahu with corruption, fraud, and abuse of power. The decision is now in the hands of Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit. A decision can take up to weeks or months to be made.

Also this week, Israeli social media platforms denounced a statement made by Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki at the Munich Security Conference. Bloggers considered that Morawiecki’s statement crossed the line as Israel has recently sought to overcome the diplomatic crisis with Poland.

Replying to a question by a Yedioth Ahronoth correspondent about implications of the Holocaust Law, Morawiecki indicated that “Jewish culprits” had worked for the Nazis during World War II. The Holocaust Law incriminates any person who accuses Poland and the Polish people of involvement in the Holocaust, which targeted the Jews.