I have only one request for Itamar Fleischman | Doron Brosh
I wish Fleischman would curse me instead of Yair Lapid and accuse me of every possible charge. There are many expenses, dear Itamar Fleischman, and times are not easy.
"The Patriots", Channel 14: It is a pity that Itamar Fleischman retracted his statement that Yair Lapid helps the Nazis. Thus, Lihi missed out on a new countertop and a new Ninja for the kitchen. Fleischman, maybe you will curse me?
I read with regret that Itamar Fleischman retracted his statement that Yair Lapid helps the Nazis, under the excuse that he "used words that were too harsh". It is a pity. Truly a pity. Because if Fleischman had not been a coward and folded on matters of Nazis and such, all parties involved would have been completely satisfied. First, I am convinced that Yair Lapid would have been satisfied - just like that, in the middle of the week, during a tedious routine of trips and pre-election conferences, he is pushed into the center of public attention. Lapid, by the way, does not need Fleischman to curse him. He has enough talented and important figures other than Fleischman who curse him on a regular basis. But Fleischman volunteered - and not very wisely - and attacked Lapid exactly at the point where the opposition leader's armor is most hardened and strong. Lapid, whose family suffered heavy blows from the Nazis, knew exactly how to squeeze every drop out of Fleischman. He listed the family losses in the Holocaust, threatened Fleischman and Channel 14 with libel suits, the reporters' pens recorded, the cameras clicked, and just like that, in the middle of the week, Lapid received a modest political gift presented to him by an unwise rival.
I was happy for Lapid and also for Lihi, who could, when the check from Channel 14 arrives, make a new kitchen, although knowing both of them, they would have donated the money to some charity for the needy, who themselves would have been happy for the gift, but then, as mentioned, Fleischman retracted his words and ruined the event.
I am quite sure, by the way, that at Channel 14 they did not pull their hair out following Fleischman's outpouring of words. Over my many years in the industry, I have moved between several media outlets. A journalist or presenter who would have labeled any public figure as "helping the Nazis" would have found himself on his backside outside the gate that same day, with the guard given a clear instruction from then on never to let that type into the system again. Perhaps behind the scenes at Channel 14, tempers flared following Fleischman's words, but somehow things did not leak to the media. My guess, by the way, is that the winds at the channel blew with the force of no more than a gentle breeze. Maybe someone even threw something at the naughty guy like, "Well done, how you got to Lapid today," and that was the end of the matter. About firing, as they would do, for example, on the "panic channels," no one even thought to fire or suspend the man.
And why, actually, should they act with such severity? After all, just a few days before that, presenter Boaz Golan declared on air that Gadi Eizenkot, no less than Gadi Eizenkot, is a bad person. Simply a bad person. If an alien had stumbled upon the screen without knowing Eizenkot and Golan, he would have been convinced immediately that Eizenkot, out of sheer evil, surely devours small children with his hungry jaws, and also, along the way, helps... (and I will stop here, of course).
They spew every murky spray that passes through their minds, but that is not new. No one in the channel's management stops them, and the improving viewing percentages indicate that it works. That there is a certain percentage of the population among viewers who find it tasty. Here is a not-so-risky bet: as the elections approach, and the polls continue to point to the same trend, we might yet see these sprays turn into a tsunami.
If the news is true that Fleischman retracted his words and Lapid is waiving the libel suit, one can only regret it. In my dreams, I had already fantasized about the new countertop of the Lapid couple and the shiny Ninja device that was just purchased and stands next to their espresso machine. I wish Fleischman would curse me instead of Yair and accuse me of every possible charge: that I maintain contacts with Iranian foreign agents, that my mother breaks in with illegal residents (sorry, Mom, but I want to buy you a huge birthday present), and Hitler, of course. There are many expenses, dear Itamar Fleischman, and times are not easy. Curse me. For heaven's sake, please curse me.
