Yair Netanyahu: Ethiopian community's protests funded by 'German Money'
Prime minister's son causes outrage among Ethiopian-Israeli activists, MKs, who call him 'a spoiled boy who lives off the public,' spreader of fake news; 'it's easy being a virtual bully, far more difficult to go out and protest'
"Everything that happened this week was fueled by the New Israel Fund and the Standing Together organization with the use of German money," said the prime minister's son, referring to aid organizations that often support the Ethiopian Israeli cause.
"I wonder what would have happened if the Israeli government funded a German organization that burns police vehicles, blocks roads and acts violently in the streets of Berlin," said young Netanyahu.
Many Ethiopian descendants around the country were outraged by the tweet. "No Yair, everything that happened this week was fueled by racism and oppression that my community has been going through for many years," tweeted Avi Yalo, one of the protest's leaders.
"You can keep spreading lies about the New Israel Fund and about German money, but you know it has no connection what so ever to reality. Our struggle, which you cannot understand from the bubble you live in, is a daily struggle for an equal, secure life."
Itzik Time, another leader of the protests, also responded with a fierce tweet: "I wish we had had funding for protests, we would have protested for a whole week," he said.
MK Pnina Tamano-Shata from the Blue and White Party said in response that "This spoiled demagogue will never be able to understand the weak. Sit quietly, don’t stir cheap and false politics over the back of a community that went out to protest from the bottom of its aching heart."
"Where were you during the rightful protests against police violence and the killing of Solomon Tekah? Where were you during the protests after the killing of Yehuda Biadga?" tweeted Alon Lee Green, chair of the Standing Together movement.
"It's easy sitting back in an airconditioned room and being a virtual bully. It's far more difficult protesting for justice and against a government who hurts its citizens," he said.
Blue and White MK Gadi Yevarkan, who is of Ethiopian descent, also slammed Yair Netanyahu: "Those young teens on the streets have contributed to this country a thousand times more than did, you a rich boy who lives on the backs of the public."
"I didn't expect you to understand what discrimination is, since you grew up in a home that is a factory house for discrimination," said Yevarkan.
"Go and learn about values, respect, Zionism and the love of the motherland from Ethiopian Israelis," he concluded.
