You’ve probably seen Netanyahu’s name in headlines alongside former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke’s recently, but who exactly is the prime minister’s son?
After growing up under public scrutiny, and with both parents under criminal investigation, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s son, Yair Netanyahu, seems to be cracking under the pressure, taking to Facebook to express his anger.
“He’s just a regular person with opinions, like anyone else, who just happens to be the prime minister’s son,” a longtime friend said Sunday, on condition of anonymity. “People go after him, because they don’t like his dad. I don’t think he would choose this. It’s not easy.”
Whether he seeks it or not, Netanyahu’s political opinions and his colorful way of sharing them have gotten him a lot of attention during August’s slow news cycles. But he didn’t just start making headlines this summer.
The most recent Yair-centered scandal is his outrage-sparking post of what he called “the food chain.” The diagram featured antisemitic tropes such as Jewish billionaire George Soros, who funds left-wing causes and organizations in several countries, controlling the world, via other conspiracy theory figures like lizard people, known as Reptilians, and the Illuminati or Freemasons. Those figures, according to the graphic Netanyahu shared, control former prime minister Ehud Barak, who controls failed Labor candidate Eldad Yaniv and former Prime Minister’s Residence superintendent Meni Naftali, leaders of the weekly anti-Netanyahu protests in Petah Tikva.
The prime minister has thus far declined to comment. Asked about it after he made an unrelated statement to the press on Sunday, he said: “This isn’t a press conference.” At about 9 p.m., Netanyahu Junior deleted the post from his Facebook page with no explanation.
Lahav Harkov 