Durga meme row and other reasons why Israeli PM’s son Yair Netanyahu is always in the news

I’ve tweeted a meme from a satirical page, critizing political figures in Israel. I didn’t realize the meme also portrayed an image conected to the majestic Hindu faith. As soon as I realised it from comments of our Indian friends, I have removed the tweet. I apologize>>

— Yair Netanyahu 🇮🇱 (@YairNetanyahu) July 27, 2020

What role does Yair Netanyahu play in furthering the prime minister’s agendas?

“Yair is considered to be a very influential social media figure (in Israel) and has a large number of followers on different platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. He is considered to be an informal spokesperson of his father on social networks and many times we see that some controversial opinions and messages his father cannot say, he can express freely,” says Edan Ring, a lecturer in communications and social change at Ben-Gurion University, in an interview with indianexpress.com. “He has boasted that he single-handedly changed public opinion in Israel through social media.”

Netanyahu pushes content on social media that appeals to his father’s right-wing political base, a group of ardent supporters who are called ‘Bibists’, a play on the prime minister’s nickname ‘Bibi’. “We can see how hundreds of right-wing “trolls” on social media follow him and share or retweet his messages…They are willing to share and publish every single lie or smear that can help his father and hurt his enemies,” says Ring.

To an outside observer, Netanyahu’s iconoclasm doesn’t appear to leave any institution or individual untouched if he deems them to be critical of his father. (Photo: Reuters)

Netanyahu’s modus operandi on social media is similar to that followed by other leading populist leaders around the world, Ring says, from Trump to Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orbán and Brazil’s Bolsonaro. “He usually uses social media to attack “liberal” elites and focuses mainly on mainstream media, calling them leftist and fake news, the legal system and the Supreme Court, saying they are “deep state” trying to overthrow his father, and of course the opposition and the Arab minority.” 

To an outside observer, Netanyahu’s iconoclasm doesn’t appear to leave any institution or individual untouched if he deems them to be critical of his father. To his father’s supporters and by extension his, some of Netanyahu’s most serious controversies are at times dismissed as the result of him being brought up in the public gaze, ever since his father first became Israel’s youngest prime minister in 1996, when Yair was five years old.

To their supporters, some of Yair Netanyahu’s most serious controversies are at times dismissed as the result of him being brought up in the public gaze, ever since his father Benjamin Netanyahu first became Israel’s youngest prime minister in 1996, when Yair was five years old. (Photo: Reuters)

Since 2017, following the launch of investigations concerning corruption charges involving his father, Netanyahu had stepped in more prominently into the public sphere, using his social media platforms to tell these investigating authorities and his father’s opponents exactly what he has to say about them. On many occasions, very much like investigations into his parents’ alleged wrongdoing dominating news cycles in Israel, Yair Netanyahu too finds himself under similar scrutiny.

What are the controversies in which Yair Netanyahu has been involved?

Most lately, Netanyahu has been furiously tweeting against protests in Israel that have been ongoing for weeks, where Israelis have been protesting against the government’s mishandling of the COVID-19 outbreak and its impact on the country’s economy.

“He has been very busy with false accusations and fake posts about the massive protest against his father’s government….He even posted a fake photo, not from Israel, trying to blame the protesters for defecating in the streets next to his family’s home,” says Ring.

Last week, Yair stirred fresh criticism and controversy for responding to a tweet by MK Nitzan, the head of Left wing-party Meretz, featuring a photo of protests in Tel Aviv: “I hope the elderly people who die following this protest will be from your (leftist) bloc.”

Over the past few years, the younger Netanyahu has angered many, both in Israel and overseas, says Ring. “Some (posts) were intentional and some mistakes. Many of his posts and tweets are (deleted) not long after he posts them, but still the damage is done. It is very clear that he doesn’t think too much before he pushes the “publish” button.”

Also Read | Explained: Why Israel has been witnessing weeks of large-scale protests against PM Netanyahu

In 2017, he was accused of posting anti-Semitic imagery when he published a Facebook post depicting a “food chain” featuring US billionaire George Soros dangling the world from a stick in front of a reptile and caricature former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak, to imply that both individuals were  manipulating the world. Both Soros and Barak have been critical of Benjamin Netanyahu. At that time, the Anti-Defamation League, an international Jewish non-governmental organisation based in the US, had denounced the cartoon and called it anti-Semitic. Themes that portray Jewish businessmen controlling the world are considered to be anti-Semetic.

Netanyahu’s son posts ‘alien reptile’, Soros and cloaked figure meme – and David Icke gets the blame! Not guilty https://t.co/3oys4pgffB pic.twitter.com/ecvAd3Px7Q

— David Icke (@davidicke) September 11, 2017

Yair Netanyahu’s support for Trump and right-wing public figures in the US is also well documented. Last year, in an interview with a right-wing U.S. broadcaster BlazeTV, he defended Trump, claiming the US president was a “real rock star” in Israel. In the same interview he championed Trump as “the best friend that Israel aond the Jewish people ever had in the White House” and added that Trump “will be remembered in Jewish history forever for moving the embassy to Jerusalem and recognizing Jerusalem and recognizing the Golan Heights.”

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In 2018, Yair Netanyahu came under fire after recordings surfaced where he and his friend, the son of Israeli tycoon Kobi Maimon, were heard discussing everything from a $20 billion deal that the prime minister had arranged for Maimon, to searching for prostitutes late into the night.

Why Yair Netanyahu’s rants matter

Observers say Netanyahu has been increasingly trying to promote himself as a leading populist right-wing figure in Israel and even overseas. He has become more visible in the public sphere by delivering public speeches and by accompanying his father on official trips, like his visit last year to the US.

However, it would be an oversimplification of Yair Netanyahu’s political ideology if he were to be considered a right-wing figure only attacking the left given that that no one seems to escape his wrath. “He often attacks and smears right-wing figures if he thinks they are a threat or if they criticize his father. The only thing he is loyal to is his father’s power,” says Ring.

“He is more extreme than his father not only in rhetoric but also in ideology and many people think that he is planning to follow in the footsteps of his father and become a politician soon. That is something that many people fear because it means more polarisation… for society in Israel.”

I love India! Jai Hind! 🇮🇱🇮🇳❤️✡️🕉

— Yair Netanyahu 🇮🇱 (@YairNetanyahu) July 27, 2020

✡️❤️🕉❤️🇮🇳❤️🇮🇱 pic.twitter.com/DPvxqTUN9Y

— Yair Netanyahu 🇮🇱 (@YairNetanyahu) July 28, 2020

After the latest controversy over the morphed image of Goddess Durga, Yair Netanyhau published a series of tweets to highlight his love for India and perhaps to emphasise diplomatic ties between India and Israel.