Great news for Benjamin Netanyahu’s son Yair; while hundreds of thousands of Israelis are called up from within Israel and around the world to return home and go to war, the 32-year-old son of the Israeli PM has been given an exemption and will continue living his best life in Miami.
Naturally, some Israeli troops are not happy about this, with one volunteer on Israel’s northern front telling The Times: “It’s us who are leaving our work, our families, our kids, to protect our families back home and the country, not the people who are responsible for this situation. Our brothers, our fathers, sons, are all going to the front line, but Yair is still not here. It does not help build trust in the leadership of the country.”
Another, deployed to the border with Gaza, said: “I’ve flown back from the States where I have a job, a life, my family. There is no way I can stay there and abandon my country, my people, at this critical time. Where is the prime minister’s son? Why isn’t he in Israel?”
Yair, who studied theatre at high school, undertook compulsory military service where he worked in the spokesman’s unit of IDF, rather than as a combat soldier. So I guess he doesn’t have any frontline experience, but the rules do state that’s not enough to exempt you (well, unless you’re the Prime Minister’s son).
Otherwise, Yair is happy to get involved with his dad’s politics. He’s been at the centre of several defamation cases over the years by sharing controversial memes and posts, and just last August was ordered by a court to pay over $34,000 in compensation to a woman he implied was having an affair with his dad’s political rival.
Now listen, it’s not surprising that someone as rich and connected as the son of a Prime Minister is exempted from a deadly war while everyone else’s kids are sent to die; that’s just the way of the world. In his dad’s defense, if Yair were to be taken hostage by Hamas that would give them way too much leverage over Israel. But you have to wonder whether Netanyahu would feel differently about going to war in the first place if anyone he actually cared about was involved on the front lines.
Either way, it sounds like Netanyahu is getting the boot no matter what happens at the end of this war. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like we are anywhere near close to the end at this stage…
For raw footage of the Hamas massacre on October 7 that was screened to 100 journalists in Israel this week, click HERE.
