While he calls on thousands of reservists in Israel to fight against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, his son is still living “the good life” in Miami. The controversy over 32-year-old Yair Netanyahu, the son and heir of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, flared up within the country a few weeks ago and is now reflected in the international press. The young man is no stranger to such controversies. A “special” situation that has thrown “Bibi” (the nickname taken by her father) and her far-right government into even more crisis, at the center of heated criticism from Israelis, who are angry about what happened last October 7.
Son who?
Yair, who graduated from the department of international relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, had already become prominent for his antics in the context of a privileged private life, as well as for the slogans of the most extreme nationalist right. In the past, he has accused former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated in 1995 and recognizes the Palestinian Authority, of “killing Holocaust survivors.” There was no shortage of support from American white supremacists Viktor Orbán, Matteo Salvini and Nigel Farage. There were later rumors of flirtations with non-Jewish Scandinavian models and visits to strip clubs witnessed by paparazzi. She also lost a libel case for attributing a romantic relationship that turned out to not exist to one of her father’s political opponents.
disappeared from the radar
Father “Bibi” Netanyauh and mother Sara sent him to Florida in April at a critical moment for the government led by his father, grappling with incessant criticism and street demonstrations against criminal justice reform. Since then, Yair had disappeared off the radar, having been silenced by his own family, thus saving him from the slander complaints the scion had received. Following Hamas’ bloody attack on Israel and the bombings in Gaza, the Israeli press once again turned its attention to Hamas. The young man, who did not hesitate to describe the Israelis who took to the streets against his father as “terrorists”, chose to stay safe in the USA after “Hamas’ declaration of war against terrorism”.
Privileges of a sprout
Military service in Israel is compulsory and lasts three years for men and two years for women, except for Orthodox religious men. The Netanyahu family provided previous generations with soldiers who wore the uniform of Sayeret Matkal’s elite special forces. We especially remember Bibi’s older brother Yonathan, known as Yoni, who was born in New York in 1946 and was drafted into the army during the Six-Day War. After returning to college, he returned to the Israel Defense Forces for the Yom Kippur War in 1973. Yoni died a “hero” at the age of 29 for participating in the attack to free the hostages on the hijacked Air France Tel Aviv-Paris flight in Entebbe, Uganda, in 1976. It is a very different story today from the one of Yair, whom he denounced for leaving his country in his time of need and, above all, for being forced by his peers to take up arms and return to their homeland to fight against Hamas terrorists.
Anger of substitute peers
“Yair is enjoying life in Miami Beach while I’m at the front,” a volunteer from the Hezbollah-pressured Lebanese border reserve told the Times. The presence of the Netanyahu crown prince in Fort Lauderdale on October 17, who spoke at a fundraiser organized by the Jewish non-governmental organization Yedidim USA to support the families affected by the Hamas attacks, was not enough to calm things down. While stories of citizens returning to defend their homeland proliferate, Yair is now considered a “fugitive” and a fugitive. A reserve soldier told the British press: “Many of us left our jobs, our families, our children and returned to our country to protect our people.” “And we are not responsible for what happened,” the soldier said, thus underlining the responsibilities and negligence that many Israelis blamed on the Netanyahu government and the intelligence apparatus after the serious losses suffered in the October 7 attack.
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Source: Today IT
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
