Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacted angrily Wednesday evening to the activities of left-wing protesters against the government who are united in a group called "Veterans of the Special Operations Units". The left-wing demonstrators hung a sign on an interchange named after Ben-Zion Netanyahu, Benjamin’s father, reading "the Father of the Dictator’s Interchange". Another sign read: "The father of a failed and corrupt dictator."
One of the leaders of the protest told Israel Channel 12 News: "We have great respect for Ben-Zion Netanyahu, may his memory be blessed. We do not need to apologize or justify ourselves to anyone. We are not nice, this protest is not nice. We did not insult anything, everything was through simple signs.
Protesters against the government stole a monument to Benzion Netanyahu, a noted Israeli historian and the father of the current PM. A banner was left declaring that the interchange named for the same individual had been renamed "Father of the Dictator Interchange." pic.twitter.com/FRUTe4jbeS
— Israel National News - Arutz Sheva (@ArutzSheva_En) June 7, 2023
He later attacked Prime Minister Netanyahu: "We are not politicians, we are talking to a man sitting on Gaza Street, who by the way comes from our background, we know him very well. We tell him: 'If you don't wake up and put this thing away, this is how you will be remembered - this is how history will remember you." Prime Minister Netanyahu tweeted in response to the act: "Despicable people today desecrated the monument in memory of my father. It's time for them to stop trampling every norm of decency and the way of mannerisms."
In addition, the opposition leader, Benny Gantz, responded to the left-wing activists who desecrated Ben-Zion Netanyahu's monument: "I strongly condemn the hanging of the sign that dishonors the memory of Prof. Ben Zion Netanyahu, the father of the prime minister." Gantz added that "Even amid a justified protest like no other, it is important that we preserve the honor of the dead and the legacy of individuals who contributed in their way to the State of Israel."
Despicable people today desecrated the monument in memory of my father, the late historian Prof. Benzion Netanyahu. We filed a police complaint. It's time for them to stop trampling every norm of decency and common sense. https://t.co/cV85LJfUBM
— Rick Smol 🟦 (@RickSmol) June 7, 2023
Ben-Zion, who passed away in 2012, was a historian, an operative of the Revisionist Movement in the Land of Israel, and a representative of the movement in the United States during World War II. He worked as a professor at Cornell University and an associate professor at the Academy for Jewish Research and was a member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts and Historical Sciences in Spain.
2/3 Le président du camp d'État Benny Gantz a publié ce soir (mercredi) un tweet dans lequel il écrit : « Je condamne fermement l'accrochage de la pancarte qui déshonore la mémoire du professeur Benzion Netanyahu, le père du Premier ministre.
— 0404Informations (@0Informations) June 7, 2023
At the end of the 1990s, Netanyahu senior expressed concern at what he saw as a combination of the Arab threat and Israeli weakness and complacency. He saw the Oslo Accords as "an act of madness", "a trap that the Arabs and our enemies among the Europeans set for us on purpose."
