How Bibi turned media wrath from a curse into an asset

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has a point. The mainstream Israeli media loathes him and wishes for his downfall. Senior analysts seek flaws in his actions. Leading opinion writers find fault with his decisions. The media's attitude toward Netanyahu is reminiscent of the joke told about a Washington Times report that former President Bill Clinton's boat had sunk in the ocean and that he had walked on water all the way to safety. The headline of the report screamed, "Bill Clinton can't swim."

Here are two fresh examples of good news in the diplomatic arena for which Netanyahu did not get an iota of credit. Except, of course, from his cheerleading Israel Hayom newspaper, to which we will get to back later.

For the first time in the history of the state, a delegation of Saudi academics and businessmen, headed by the director of the Institute for Strategic Studies, retired Gen. Anwar Eshki, openly visited Israel. In addition to meetings with government officials — Director General of the Foreign Ministry Dore Gold and the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai — delegation members met with a group of lawmakers from the Meretz Party and Zionist Camp, and even had their photo taken with them. A visit by Saudi citizens to Israel, officially considered an enemy state, could not have taken place without the blessing of the royal palace. If former President Shimon Peres had been sitting in the prime minister's chair, his name would have made banner headlines about "a breakthrough in relations with Saudi Arabia." Netanyahu's name was sidelined, along with reports about the special visit.

That same week, on July 20, Gold inked an agreement renewing diplomatic ties with the Republic of Guinea (Conakry), the first country to sever relations with Israel after the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. The echoes of the criticism directed at the Netanyahu government's settlement policy by the Middle East Quartet (does anyone remember that report?) must have missed Conakry. True, Guinea carries little diplomatic and economic weight, but given the international boycotts and condemnations of Israel, is the expansion of its diplomatic circles not worthy of a fleeting pat on the shoulder of the prime minister, who is also the foreign minister? This time, too, Netanyahu was forced to make do with a flattering report and large photo in Israel Hayom.