Benjamin Netanyahu slams CNN, New York Times as ‘fake news’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined President Trump in calling CNN and The New York Times “fake news” in a video posted Sunday.

Mr. Netanyahu slammed the news organizations over their reporting of a new policy document from Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, which accepts for the first time the idea of a Palestinian state existing along the 1967 borders, but still doesn’t recognize the state of Israel.

“Ever wonder what fake news is?” Mr. Netanyahu asked in the video posted to YouTube Sunday. “Last week, headlines in CNN, Al Jazeera and The Guardian said that Hamas now accepts a Palestinian state along the 1967 lines. The New York Times headline called this ’moderation.’ The intimation is that Hamas now accepts the state of Israel. Great news, right? Well, except for one small detail: This is a complete distortion of the truth.

“The new Hamas document says that Israel has no right to exist,” he said. “It says every inch of our land belongs to the Palestinians. It says there is no acceptable solution other than to remove Israel.

“So why does Hamas say there is consensus for a smaller Palestinian state now? In order to destroy Israel later,” he continued. “They want to use their state to destroy our state. Is moving from calling for genocide of all Jews to calling just for the annihilation of Israel — is that progress or moderation? Only if you have no standards whatsoever.”

Mr. Netanyahu is then seen crumbling up the document and tossing it into a trash can.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri called Mr. Netanyahu’s video an “act of weakness.”

“Shattering the Hamas document by Netanyahu is an act of weakness and we call upon the world to stand up against Netanyahu’s racist behavior,” Mr. Zuhri tweeted.

Mr. Trump has repeatedly labeled The New York Times and CNN as “fake news” over their reporting of his new administration. 

Mr. Trump is scheduled to visit Israel on May 22 as part of his efforts to broker peace in the region. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas reportedly announced Tuesday that he would be willing to meet with Mr. Netanyahu under the “auspices” of the U.S. president.