Renowned writer hits back at the left: "They never forgave my friendship with Bibi"

Writer and poet Eyal Megged (77) was a guest on the "Change of Direction" podcast on the Knesset Channel, hosted by Dr. Nissim Katz. Megged, who was once a close friend of the Prime Minister, spoke about the price of his friendship with Benjamin Netanyahu and the harsh reactions he received from the left.

At the beginning of his remarks, Megged addressed claims spread against him in the Israeli media: "I never drank wine with Bibi and Sara in Caesarea because I was never in their house in Caesarea. Maybe I drank wine with him at Balfour, one Friday afternoon. I sat there and we talked, he opened a bottle of Hermon wine, the cheapest one in the grocery store, but actually quite good."

The writer shared that the left did not forgive him for being friends with Prime Minister Netanyahu and made a controversial statement against the political camp: "'Let him not preach morality to us', 'an opportunist who simply understood that in the left they give out more pats on the back in the clique'."

"They don't give me any pats on the back after I recanted, after I attacked Bibi, because the left does not forget and, above all, does not forgive. They did not forgive me for the friendship with Bibi, even when I came out against him, and if I had already died for the sanctification of the name against Bibi, then they would say - no, but he was a friend of Bibi. I said it more than once: it is worse than being a friend of Hitler in their eyes. A friend of Hitler, well okay, there are all kinds of nuances, but with Bibi there are no nuances at all."

Megged, who was furious at the harsh criticism directed at him by the left, mentioned the friendships that former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert maintained with prominent figures in Israeli society. In his remarks, Eyal Megged mentioned the fact that Ehud Olmert was convicted in 2015 in the cash envelopes affair for fraud, breach of trust, and obtaining something by fraud under aggravating circumstances. Consequently, he was sentenced to eight months in prison and a fine. As is known, in July 2017, Olmert finished serving the prison sentences imposed on him after a third was deducted from them.

"Olmert had all kinds of friends. Olmert was convicted as a criminal, took bribes, cash envelopes. Also the Second Lebanon War, where he sent 33 soldiers to die with such hubris, it is terrible and awful. Were you a friend of Olmert? Did you have immunity because he went to the left? That's perfectly fine, no problem.

My friend, Amnon Dankner, never got flak for being a friend of Olmert, never. Tommy Lapid was a friend of Olmert. It's not that he sat in prison, it doesn't count. It's perfectly fine, they were my friends but we didn't discuss this thing. If I were still a friend of Bibi now, say whatever you want about me. Before October 7, Netanyahu was not worse or more corrupt than many others."