What he said that caused all the backlash is "The right-wing government is in danger. Arab voters are coming out in droves to the polls. Left-wing organizations are busing them out."
Joe Klein in Time takes this one sentence and concludes that "he won because he ran as a bigot."
His choice of words was definitely unfortunate, but in context he was more upset over the buses than over the Arabs voting. How do we know?
Because he said so only hours after the first message, while the polls were still open.
I want to clarify: there is nothing illegitimate with citizens voting, Jewish or Arab, as they see fit. What is not legitimate is the funding, the fact that money comes from abroad from NGOs and foreign governments, brings them en masse to the ballot box in an organized fashion, in favor of the left, gives undue power to the extremist Arab list, and weakens the right bloc in such a way that we will be unable to build a government — despite the fact that most citizens of Israel support the national camp and support me as the prime minister from Likud.Did you see any of the media report on this message, released on the exact same platform and aimed at the exact same audience as the earlier one? Besides some Israeli media and The Blaze, I don't see it anywhere.
Because it doesn't fit the meme of "Bibi as racist."
As I've noted, none of the mainstream media reported that the community with the highest percentage of Likud voters was not a Jewish community or a 'settlement" but Arab al-Naim.
Druze Likud MK Ayoub Kara has said that no one said a word when Arab MKs told their communities that any Arab who votes for a Zionist party is "garbage."
United Arab List member Ahmed Tibi, in the forefront of accusing Bibi of being a racist, was the first one to call on Arabs to vote in droves. No one called that bigoted.
He raised the Palestinian flag on the holiest spot of Judaism in January. Again, the world media ignored his blatant insult to Judaism.
These sorts of statements and actions are expected from Arabs, according to the world media which does not regard it as newsworthy.
Which means that Joe Klein and all the others who insult Bibi while actively suppressing the truth about Israeli Arab extremists like Tibi are the real bigots.
(h/t Asher)
UPDATE: From The Forward, some Arab electoral racism that went unreported as well:
“Bibi, Buji, Zehava and Issawi: All of the Jews are the same,” noted leaders of the Arab Balad party at a recent executive meeting.Why wasn't this reported in the mainstream media? Again, the Arab politicians are expected to be haters - so the media doesn't hold them to the same moral standards.
Balad Party activists are willing to lump together Netanyahu with Meretz Chairwoman Zehava Gal-On, who supports the Arab Peace Initiative and the division of Jerusalem. Even more offensive is the derision expressed toward Arab MK Issawi Frej of Meretz merely because he joined a Zionist party, despite being left-wing and promoting Palestinian statehood.
(h/t Adam L)