Prime Ministers' sons duke it out on Facebook

After website published five facts about the son of the Israeli Prime Minister, Yair Netanyahu attacked the project and sons of other prime ministers. Ariel Olmert hit back.

Yair Netanyahu (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
Yair Netanyahu
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
Yair Netanyahu and Ariel Olmert faced off on Facebook this week, with the prime ministers’ sons lobbing accusations at each other.
“Hey, Yair Netanyahu, we’ve never met,” Olmert wrote on Wednesday, two days after Netanyahu wrote a post accusing him of having “interesting relations with a Palestinian that has significance for national security.”
“I’m Ariel, Ehud Olmert’s secret son. The homo, you know, the one who lived with a Palestinian and ran away to Paris... But, you know what? There are a few problems with this story. The first is that it’s made-up lies. I like women and share my life with a female partner and my daughter.
“The bigger problem is the racism and homophobia dripping from this story... And for dessert, you decided to claim that we, my imaginary friend and I, harmed national security. Good for you,” Olmert wrote.
The former prime minister’s son said the rumors about him were spread while his father was premier, and that he had always ignored them, because he didn’t think there was anything wrong with gay people or Palestinians.
However, now that Yair Netanyahu spread the rumors, Olmert decided to address the story.
“Listen up, my dear: Unlike you, I never slept in the Prime Minister’s Residence, I don’t have a driver and security paid for by the state, and I don’t hang out with presidents or – allegedly – billionaires. I actually work for my living. I also, on principle, try to pick up my dog’s doody,” he wrote.
Olmert concluded that he will not hesitate to sue anyone who spreads false stories about him. He then posted a translation in Arabic.
The former prime minister’s son’s tirade came after Netanyahu lashed out against three offspring of previous Israeli leaders in a social media attack on Molad, a progressive think tank.
Molad published a Facebook post under the title “Five things you did not know about Yair Netanyahu.”
According to that post, the son of the prime minister, aged 25, is not officially employed, lives with his parents at the Prime Minister’s Residence, and is protected by a round-the-clock security detail provided by the state wherever he goes, despite not holding any state position of any kind.
The young Netanyahu is the first adult son of a serving prime minister to live with his parents in the official residence.
A photo of him dining in the company of his parents and US President Donald Trump during the American leader’s official visit in Israel made it clear he was included in this state function.
Yair Netanyahu has been making headlines this week for all the wrong reasons. His social media tirade was made on the heels of another Facebook tempest in which a neighbor of the Netanyahus accused him of not picking up after first dog Kaya’s droppings.
Now, however, young Netanyahu, who uses the user name of Yair Hun, lashed out at Molad. “How lovely it is that your side always talks about slurs, demonization, crucifying people on the media, and crossing of redlines,” he wrote.
He then went on to wonder why other offspring of Israeli prime ministers had not been the subject of similar Facebook posts by Molad, asking where is the media coverage of the son of the late Ariel Sharon “who went to jail, the son of Ehud Olmert and his interesting relationship with a Palestinian, or the son of the late Shimon Peres who accidentally killed a fellow soldier while in army service and the matter was hushed up.”
Omri Sharon served time in prison in 2008 for corruption and now heads the Israeli Association of Cattle Ranchers. Dr. Yonatan Peres did accidentally kill a fellow soldier when his weapon was discharged in 1971; he served three months in a military prison and is now the manager of a veterinarian hospital.
The Molad post also included information about Yair’s relationship with Australian millionaire James Packer. The young Netanyahu has been accused of receiving various favors from Packer.
Netanyahu accused also Molad of being sponsored by “the fund for the destruction of Israel,” an apparent reference to the New Israel Fund, which no longer contributes to Molad.
He concluded the post with an emoji representing a middle finger and feces.
Molad released a short video on its “Project 61” Facebook page threatening a lawsuit if Netanyahu does not apologize.