Is Netanyahu’s son pulling him to the far-right?
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s son Yair expresses openly the far-right and Arab-hating positions expressed a bit more discreetly by his father and his official entourage.
On Aug. 12, an ultranationalist in a far-right-wing rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, killed 32-year-old left-wing American activist Heather Heyer. A short time later, Yair Netanyahu, the son of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, posted a comment on his Facebook page. “To put things in perspective,” wrote Yair. “I’m a Jew, I’m an Israeli [and] the neo-Nazi scums in Virginia hate me and my country. But they belong to the past. Their breed is dying out. However, the thugs of Antifa and BLM [Black Lives Matter] who hate my country (and America too in my view) just as much are getting stronger and stronger and becoming super dominant in American universities and public life.”
He took care to publicize the post in Hebrew and English. A public storm broke out in Israel almost immediately. In contrast to his father, Yair does not even try to hide behind a fake mask of political correctness. He made the exact same comparison as did US President Donald Trump a few days earlier when Trump denounced extremists from “both sides” after the Virginia events.