news flash: lying pisses people off and destroys your credibility

Who knew?

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu drew the wrath of Israel's most influential newspapers on Thursday over what they described as lies issued by his office about a secret flight to Russia.

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Keeping sensitive matters under wraps, newspaper commentators said, could be acceptable on grounds of national security.

But a false cover story? Israeli media, which have long abided by military censorship rules that force them to sit on security-related news, were outraged. "Secrets and lies," complained identical headlines in Yedioth Ahronoth and its main competitor, the Maariv daily.

"Look what happened to the prime minister on the way to Russia -- his credibility, which was never high, was dealt a sharp blow," Maariv political commentator Ben Caspit wrote.

{snip}

Netanyahu has not responded directly to the reported secret trip. His office issued a new statement about Monday's disappearance, pinning the misinformation on his military attache, to try to end the barrage of criticism.

"The prime minister was busy with confidential and classified activities," the statement said. "The military attache, who was not in touch with the prime minister at that time, acted on his independent initiative in order to defend that activity, and did this through a statement that was sent to his media adviser with the best of intentions." Israeli newspapers described Netanyahu's office, filled with what they said were bickering advisers, as a "cuckoo's nest" and "fool's paradise."

The pearl-clutching really is kind of quaint. Whatever did they expect from a psychopath like Bibi?