“Yair is enjoying his life in Miami, while I’m on the front lines.” Yair Netanyahu, the son of the Israeli prime minister, has sparked the ire of many reservists engaged in the Israeli army, reports the Times in an article dated October 23.
The 32-year-old young man lives in the United States, in Florida, while his country is currently at war against the Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas since the attack on October 7 which left 1,400 Israeli victims. In the hours following these strikes, the country recalled 360,000 reservists, including 300,000 in the space of two days. This mobilization is colossal, in a country which has around 9.7 million inhabitants.
At 32 years old, the eldest son of the head of the Israeli government is therefore within the age range to be mobilized, while the reserve service mobilizes Israelis up to 40 years old. For many reservists, Yair Netanyahu is conspicuous by his absence in the ranks of the army. “It is we who leave our jobs, our families, our children, to protect our families back home and the country, and not the people who are responsible for this situation,” continued the soldier interviewed by the British daily. “Our brothers, our fathers, our sons, are all going to the front, but Yair is still not there. This does not help to strengthen confidence in the country’s leaders,” he lamented. The Israeli head of state is going through one of the most serious political crises of his career, while his strategy towards the Palestinian territories is being defeated by the current conflict.
These criticisms of Netanyahu’s son clearly illustrate the current tensions between the leader and the IDF. The military staff attributes particular responsibility for the delay in the ground offensive to the Prime Minister, deeming him incompetent. The military and the head of government could probably pass the buck when it comes to the explanations that they must not fail to deliver on the failure of Israeli intelligence, which led to the Hamas massacres on October 7.
Yair had completed his mandatory military service in the public communications unit of the Israel Defense Forces. The leader’s eldest son then moved to the United States following a controversy on Facebook. The young man, already known for his far-right opinions and his virulent comments on social networks, then caused a public outcry by describing as “terrorists” the thousands of demonstrators who opposed the very controversial judicial reform carried out by his father. He notably accused the United States of financing these protest movements.
On his Instagram page, the Israeli today shows his support for NGOs which support the victims of the war, sharing his sorrow about the victims and the thousands of Israelis displaced since the start of the conflict. A commitment nevertheless considered insufficient for the Israeli reservists. “I flew back from the United States where I have a job, a life, my family,” another soldier told the Times who is preparing to deploy to Israel’s southern front. There is no way I will stay there and abandon my country, my people, at this critical moment. Where is the Prime Minister’s son? Why isn’t he in Israel?,” the soldier lashed out. “This is the most unifying moment in our recent history as Israelis and every one of us should be here at this moment, including the prime minister’s son.”