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Netanyahu targets ‘fake news’ in new webcast

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is launching a new weekly webcast to “take the fake out of the news” ahead of national elections in April.

By Associated Press

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is launching a new weekly webcast to “get rid of the fake from the news” ahead of national elections in April.

In a video shared on social media Saturday, Netanyahu said the webcast will “only cover the reality, and I will continue to ensure that it will be positive.” It’s set to launch Sunday on Netanyahu’s Likud party Facebook page.

The prime minister appears to be modeling the idea on President Donald Trump’s “Real News Update,” a weekly webcast on Facebook hosted by the president’s daughter-in-law to counterbalance what the administration deems an oppositional media.

The clip makes dismissive references to the police investigations into alleged corruption by the prime minister.

Netanyahu has long had a rocky relationship with the media and accuses it, along with police and prosecutors, of being part of a witch hunt to force him from office.

Netanyahu has enjoyed a warm relationship with Trump. On Sunday, his Likud party posted a massive billboard on the side of a Jerusalem building showing the two men standing together. It said: “Netanyahu. A different league.”