Israeli Journalist Slams ‘Sycophantic’ Wall Street Journal Interview With Netanyahu
Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP
Israeli newspaper Haaretz published an article slamming the Wall Street Journal Sunday for what it called a “sycophantic” interview with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and accusing the publication of glossing over the plight of roughly 100 hostages still held in Gaza.
In the view of Haaretz journalist Amir Tibon, the WSJ’s piece, posted on the opinion page—entitled “Benjamin Netanyahu: The Inside Story of Israel’s Victory”—amounts to nothing more than a “one-sided monologue with a few generous assists from the opinion editor.”
Tibon mused that even television interviews given to Netanyahu by “admiring loyalists” were “tough and demanding in comparison.”
“If the Channel 14 interviews were like hour-long, soothing treatments for Netanyahu, the WSJ text can be compared to a full day at the spa,” wrote Tibon, who survived the October 7th attack on his kibbutz in southern Israel with the help of his father.
While WSJ’s reporters had delivered multiple scoops throughout the conflict, Tibon questioned why opinion editor Elliot Kaufman, and not the newspaper’s journalists, were entrusted to deliver the goods.
Tibon takes issue with Kaufman’s contextualizing comments by Netanyahu’s “celebration” narrative. Tibon argued that Netanyahu had a decades-old policy of bolstering Hamas in order to undermine the Palestinian Authority, quoting back the father of a hostage who was murdered: “With all due respect, sir, they were murdered in tunnels that you built … the cement and dollars entered on your watch.”
The Hareetz writer’s outrage is focused mostly, however, on discussion – or lack thereof, per Tibon – of the hostages still held by Hamas “after 14-plus months of war” and the failure to recover them.
Tibon expressed anger that the piece failed to mention any hostage’s name. One of those captured and killed by Hamas was American-Israeli citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who never appears in the WSJ’s article.
Haaretz also highlights Netanyahu’s comments about a “short-term deal that will include the release of some hostages, but not all.”
As the prime minister continues to argue for “total victory,” Tibon added that many Israelis fear the conflict’s tragic reality of those who remain hostage is being airbrushed from international headlines.
Tibon’s scathing takedown was shared on X by We Are All Hostages, an account representing the families of those taken and held by Hamas.
