American Herald Tribune- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke honestly, perhaps for the first time, about what has been driving his recent attacks on Israeli journalists during a conference for members of the foreign press in Jerusalem Tuesday evening.

During the Q&A session, one reporter�asked Netanyahu about whether confrontations with local journalists are�the �best strategy� to engage with media outlets critical of him.

�I don�t know, it�s the most entertaining,� Netanyahu retorted. �It�s fun, I enjoy it.�

It used to be that there was the media, the media said what it wanted to, which is fine, and as far as I�m concerned it should keep on doing that. Because the element of a free press, you have to understand my views. I am an�unreconstructed democrat with a small �d,� I don�t want to get into trouble, but that�s the political philosophy that I inherited, that I grew up with. Very strongly oriented towards that. And that requires a free, robust press, which can and should criticize. In fact that�s what it does regardless of who is in power. It doesn�t always do that � it should criticize equally� even if they don�t it�s their prerogative. Okay?

The first of the harsh responses was in reaction to an investigative report by Haaretz regarding Netanyahu�s relations with the country's media sector. In an apparent reference to the German media group Dumont Schauberg, which owns a minority stake in Haaretz, Netanyahu�s associates responded by saying that �we hope that the owners of Haaretz, who in the past disseminated Nazi propaganda, are not connected to the lies and slanders directed at Netanyahu.�

Netanyahu has recently come out against local journalists on his Facebook page, following what he claims are unwarranted attacks on him and his family.

Netanyahu, who also serves as Israel�s communications minister, has in recent years designated the media as his arch nemesis. He attacks journalists by name, and often issues�long, belabored responses to investigative reports published on his alleged misdoings. Last month, for example, Netanyahu published�an unprecedentedly scathing rebuke�to veteran investigative journalist Ilana Dayan, after her show �Uvda� aired a segment criticizing the inner workings of the Prime Minister�s Office.

Following the report, Dayan stood before the cameras and read the entirety of�Netanyahu�s response (which took over�six minutes to read), in which the prime minister accused her, among other things, being a �left-wing extremist��who does not have �an iota of professional integrity� and is �one of the ring-leaders of the orchestrated attacks on�Netanyahu, which seek to bring down the right-wing government.�

Raviv Drucker, another prominent investigative journalist, has also been the target of Netanyahu�s ire, especially on social media. Drucker has recently�published stories on the role of the prime minister�s personal lawyer and relative�in a highly controversial deal�to buy German submarines, as well as�the shady relationship�between the prime minister�s son and Australian businessman James Packer.

While Netanyahu views the media as his enemy, his consolidation of power allows him to mold the media landscape to his heart�s desire. His repeated threats to shut down Channel 10, his habit of�calling journalists and television executives�to complain about coverage of his wife, Sara,�his connections with owners of some of Israel�s biggest outlets, and the fact that the country�s�most-read newspaper is essentially a daily�dedicated to�promoting Bibi�s worldview�have all had a chilling effect on journalism in Israel. Or as Netanyahu would call it: fun.