(Reuters).Saying he was answering a request from Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to help out with Israel’s “PR”, or public relations, during its current Gaza offensive against Hamas, right-wing Likud party leader Benjamin Netanyahu gave a series of interviews to foreign media on Tuesday, including Reuters in
Jerusalem.
It’s not every day that a leader of a country’s main opposition party serves as what journalists call a “flak”, or PR spokesman, in support of political rivals.
With Israeli military forces in action against Hamas, it’s a time for unity, Netanyahu explained, six weeks before Israel’s national election.
Since Israeli air strikes began in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, Bibi, as Netanyahu is popular known, has been taking a back seat to Defence Minister Ehud Barak of Labour and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, leader of the ruling Kadima Party.
Some TV time, even on foreign news stations — many of which are received by viewers in Israel — can’t hurt, especially when an opinion poll on Sunday indicated that Livni was chipping away at Netanyahu’s lead ahead of the Feb. 10 ballot
