Netanyahu rattled by Last Supper sculpture in Tel Aviv square
A sprawling sculpture of Benjamin Netanyahu gorging on a giant frosted cake, Moët champagne and pink macaroons has irked the Israeli leader, who suggested the Last Supper-inspired artwork was the equivalent of a death threat.
Appearing in Tel Aviv overnight, the life-sized pop-up exhibit was made in the wake of a series of protests that have called for the 70-year-old prime minister to resign.
Netanyahu is facing an ongoing corruption trial and allegations of undemocratic power grabs to remain in high office. To compound his woes, a surge in coronavirus infections has seen unemployment soaring to 21%, with public anger focused on the botched government response to the pandemic.
Displayed in Rabin Square, the focal point of the city’s demonstrations, the installation depicts Netanyahu alone at a 10-metre long table, surrounded by candles and a medieval feast of fruits and pastries.
While inspired by the 15th-century Leonardo da Vinci mural, the spread includes pink champagne and cigars, a nod to the corruption allegations. One of three cases against him alleges that his family received luxury gifts from two wealthy businessmen. Netanyahu denies all wrongdoing.
On Wednesday, Israel’s longest-serving leader said the mock tableau of Jesus’ final meal before his killing was the equivalent of a death threat, as it implied he was heading for the same fate.
“There is no room for incitement and threats of murder – explicit and implicit – against me and my family, including the shameful threat of crucifixion today in Tel Aviv,” he said on Twitter.
However, the artist, Itay Zalait, said the fake banquet was instead meant to symbolise the last supper for democratic freedoms for Israelis.
“You have the prime minister of Israel sitting in the centre of the table and grabbing and sucking all this rich food to himself,” Zalait told the Associated Press. “Now he’s practically finished this meal, and he’s now at the stage of the dessert, which is referring to the last minutes of time we can do something to save Israeli democracy.”
Zalait is renowned in the country for his life-size political art. In 2016, he crafted a golden statue of Netanyahu, mocking what he said was blind support for Israel’s leader.
Two years later, he erected a statue of Netanyahu ally and former culture minister, Miri Regev, admiring herself in a full-length mirror. The artwork followed a draft law she had promoted that would have cut public funds to cultural organisations accused of not showing “loyalty” to the state.
Regev, who remains in the cabinet as transportation minister, also criticised Zalait’s latest exhibit as incitement.
“Is someone suggesting that the prime minister’s future be that of the diner at the Last Supper?” she wrote on Twitter. “It’s only a matter of time until there is an exhibit of the gallows and a rope.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.