RAMALLAH: The Chairman of Israeli opposition Likud party, Benjamin Netanyahu, has hired two of the US President-elect Barack Obama’s advisers to help him in his election campaign, a newspaper report said yesterday.
The Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot said that Netanyahu finalized the employment of Bill Knapp and Josh Isay, who have worked in recent years with candidates of the Democratic Party in the United States, including former President Bill Clinton, Senator Joe Lieberman, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and US President-elect Obama.
The Likud leader recently designed a website similar to that of Obama.
Knapp and Isay arrived in Israel several days ago and held a series of meetings with strategists Israel Bachar and Ron Dermer, as well as with Netanyahu himself.
On Thursday, the two advisers agreed to work with the former prime minister and to close monitoring his election campaign in Israel.
The Likud chairman has hired American advisers in all of his election campaigns, the most famous one being Arthur Finkelstein, who is now working with Avigdor Lieberman, chairman of rightist party Yisrael Beiteinu.
According to estimates in the Israeli political arena, Netanyahu has completed the round of professional appointments for his election campaign.
The two American advisers will join the opposition leader’s team, which includes bureau chief Ari Harow, spokesman Yossi Levy, strategist Roni Rimon, advertiser Shaya Segal and political adviser Shalom Shlomo.
