Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lashed out at his country’s media for leading a campaign to oust him as he battles a series of corruption allegations.
Netanyahu on Wednesday accused the media of being on “an obsessive, unprecedented hunt against me and my family to carry out a regime change” during a rally held by Israel’s Likud party in support of the prime minister.
Hundreds of supporters packed a Tel Aviv convention center holding signs and chanting “Bibi, King of Israel,” using the prime minister’s nickname.
Netanyahu said that the “leftist” media is teaming up with the political opposition to oust him and that they hope a police investigation will topple him because he cannot be defeated at the polls.
“The left, and the media, and they’re the same thing,” Netanyahu said, according to the Associated Press.
According to Israeli media, Netanyahu is being investigated for two corruption cases involving “bribery, fraud, and breach of trust.” He has maintained no wrongdoing.
One claim is that he received gifts from wealthy backers, and the other is that he is involved in a deal to support legislating one newspaper group in return for favorable coverage from another newspaper group.
“It’s not like I am going tomorrow, and they are going to replace me,” he said. “I don’t know what they want from me. I have nothing to fear. I don’t think I have a problem,” Netanyahu reportedly told members of his Likud Party Tuesday.
