Israel's televised debates Kan revisits the archives

Apr 13, 1999

Prompted by Gadi Eisenkot's invitation to Netanyahu the previous night, Shahar Glick surveys archival election debates. He presents Mordechai's 1999 challenge to Netanyahu as a defeat that discouraged later debates, and says Netanyahu won the 1996 exchange with Peres. Their excerpts contrast peace/security and fear. A Begin–Peres excerpt concerns defence from the Jordan to the sea, sovereignty and Arab autonomy. A Shamir–Peres exchange contrasts inflation with employment. The report then shows Rina Matzliah proposing a studio debate and the 2015 remote Netanyahu–Herzog exchange, including Herzog's verbal slip. Glick's evaluations of winners, humiliation and causation remain his interpretation. The precise date of the Begin–Peres footage and the 1984 moderator attribution are unresolved; the archived English speaker labels are retained.

Kan's archival account shows Yitzhak Mordechai challenging Netanyahu's credibility and presents the encounter as Netanyahu's defeat. Glick argues that it caused Netanyahu to avoid later debates; that causal judgement is the reporter's interpretation. This is the historical April 13, 1999 televised exchange, not Eisenkot's 2026 invitation.