N12 anchor suspended after rape comment about Netanyahu voters

N12's Rina Matzliach was suspended for a week and removed from the "Friday Studio" and "Meet the Press" shows.

By TAMAR URIEL-BEERI
Channel 2's 2’S Rina Matzliach (photo credit: EITAN WAXMAN)
Channel 2's 2’S Rina Matzliach
(photo credit: EITAN WAXMAN)
Israel's N12 News announced on Sunday morning that they would be suspending their anchor Rina Matzliach for a week as a result of comments she made throughout the weekend, claiming that people who vote for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "say they would still vote for him if he raped their daughter."
She was additionally removed from the "Friday Studio" and "Meet the Press" shows, despite apologizing at the end of the show, admitting that her wording was "not so successful."
The decision came after the Likud, earlier Sunday morning, appealed to the Press Council and demanded "the implementation of supervisory and enforcement measures against the incitement campaign by Matzliach against Likud and right-wing voters."
"Your sick hatred for Likud voters and for me reached a new abyss," Netanyahu tweeted in response to Matzliach's comments on Saturday night. "First you called us a blind herd and now you say things I cannot even repeat, and you still dare to call yourself a journalist."
Gil Hoffman contributed to this report.