Netanyahu's son becomes poster boy of far-right party in Germany

Netanyahu's son becomes poster boy of far-right party in Germany
Yair Netanyahu, the son of Israel's prime minister, has become the poster boy for a far right German party for his anti-EU views.
2 min read
07 May, 2020
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu's son Yair is no stranger to controversy [AFP/Getty]
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's son has become the poster boy for a far-right German party after he called the European Union an "evil globalist organisation".

Yair Netanyahu featured on a poster for the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party alongside his quote: "Schengen is dead. Hopefully, the globalist EU will be too. Then, Europe will again be free, democratic and Christian."

Schengen signifies a zone in which 26 European countries, including Germany, abolished their internal borders, allowing for the unrestricted movement of people.

The poster was shared on Twitter by senior AfD lawmaker Joachim Kuhs. "#Christianity is the #Remedy for the evils of the globalist #EU, writes Yair Netanyahu," he wrote.

Netanyahu later tweeted back at Kuhs, saying: "Please act with your colleagues to stop this insanity".

His tweet included a link describing how "The German federal government provides millions of euros to political advocacy NGOs in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza through a variety of frameworks".

Netanyahu's anti-EU quote was taken from his tweet last Tuesday in which he had responded to a joint Israeli-Palestinian memorial ceremony for Israel's Memorial Day, saying: "Shame on you for financing a disgrace in the holiest day of the Israeli calendar!"

The radical wing of the AfD was designated as an extremist entity by Germany's domestic intelligence agency in March.

Jewish communities in Germany welcomed the move, Reuters reported.

The party, which was first elected in 2017, received 11 percent of the German vote in the European elections, putting it fourth place overall.

Yair Netanyahu, 28, is no stranger to controversies over his openly antagonistic anti-liberal Twitter feed.

He tweeted in mid-April during a demonstration against his father that he hopes elderly leftists die from Covid-19.

Just last month, he was sued 250,000 shekels (£55,665) for libel and slander and ordered to pay another 37,000 shekels (£8,238) in legal costs, after posting false stories about journalist Avi Alkalay, whose news site had been covering the corruption scandal.

Netanyahu junior regularly takes to the social media to express his anti-Palestinian and anti-Muslim views, tweeting last year that Palestine has never existed because there is "no P in Arabic", and in another instance that he'd "prefer" for all Muslims to leave Israel.

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