Israeli leader’s son ‘crosses every line’ with anti-semitic post
YAIR NETANYAHU, the Israeli prime minister’s son, is under fire for posting an anti-semitic caricature aimed at his father’s critics on social media.
Mr Netanyahu, 26, shared a meme on Facebook captioned “the food chain,” which featured a photo of Jewish billionaire George Soros dangling the world in front of a reptilian creature, which in turn dangles an alchemy symbol in front of the pejorative “happy merchant” image.
The other figures in the chain are Ehud Barak, the former prime minister, who has led weekly protests calling on Benjamin Netanyahu to step down over growing corruption allegations.
Mr Soros, a Hungarian-born Jewish American businessman, has spent part of his fortune funding Left-wing groups and Human Rights Watch, a frequent critic of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and its policies toward
‘The caricature posted by Yair Netanyahu includes explicit anti-semitic elements’
the Palestinians. The images of Mr Soros and the reptile evoke anti-semitic conspiracy theories claiming that Jews control the world.
The post was shared by David Duke, former Ku Klux Klan leader, and other anti-semites.
Avi Gabbay, Israel’s Labor Party chairman, said yesterday the post “crossed every line imaginable” and was a “very sad” day for Israel.
The Israel office of the Anti-defamation League denounced the cartoon on Twitter, writing: “The caricature posted by Yair Netanyahu includes explicit anti-semitic elements. One cannot belittle the danger inherent in an anti-semitic discourse.”
In further Facebook posts following criticism for posting the cartoon, Yair Netanyahu, who is a university student, condemned the Israeli left for being two-faced in trying to silence him. A family spokesman said the younger Netanyahu would not be making any other comment.
The prime minister refused to answer questions from reporters about the post yesterday morning at the start of his weekly cabinet meeting.
Last month, his son made another headline-grabbing post after a protester was killed during a white nationalist rally in the American state of Virginia.
It appeared to suggest that hard-left organisations now pose more of a danger than neo-nazi groups, which he wrote are a dying breed.
Some critics in Israel suggested Netanyahu junior’s online activities were meant to deflect attention from his parent’s legal troubles.
The Netanyahu family is facing a slew of corruption allegations. The prime minister has been questioned about his ties to executives in the media, international business and Hollywood.
His associates have been engulfed in a probe relating to a possible conflict of interest involving a $2billion (£1.5billion) purchase of German submarines.
Israel’s attorney general has said he intends to indict the prime minister’s wife, Sara, for fraud over her bloated household expenses. Both deny all the allegations.
James Packer, an Australian billionaire, has reportedly lavished Yair with gifts that included extended stays at luxury hotels in Tel Aviv, New York and Aspen, Colorado, as well as the use of his private jet and dozens of tickets for concerts by the singer Mariah Carey, his former fiancée.
Police are trying to determine whether these constitute bribes, as Mr Packer is reportedly seeking Israeli residency status for tax purposes.
The prime minister has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, portraying the accusations as a witch hunt against him and his family by a hostile media. He has resisted increasing calls to step down.