April Fool's Day Facebook page attributed to Netanyahu sparks uproar

Gag has Netanyahu appointing Joint (Arab) List leader to run Education Ministry.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Ayman Odeh, head of the Joint Arab List (photo credit: REUTERS)
Ayman Odeh, head of the Joint Arab List
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Social media users were in for a surprise Wednesday morning when a post on what they thought was Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Facebook page stated that he had decided to give the education portfolio to none other than Ayman Odeh, head of the Joint List.
As a whirlwind of outrage washed over the Internet, it dawned on Facebook that Wednesday is April Fool’s Day and that the account was in fact fake.
“I have chosen to appoint the chairman of the Joint List, MK Ayman Odeh, as the next education minister,” the fictional post read. “Even though I know the appointment will be received with harsh criticism from both my party and future coalition – whether we like it or not, Arabs and Jews were meant to live side by side in the land of Israel; and I was elected to be the prime minister of everyone.”
Israel faces grave challenges, continued the post, which was shared with viewers just after midnight on April 1, “which can be tackled only when we are united from within.”
“Justice and equality are not a scarce resource, reserved – as many want you to believe – for select members of society. Rather, we can and must grant them to society as a whole; for if they are withheld from some, they are kept from us all.”
The Likud issued a statement in response, after getting wind of the viral prank. “Likud legal adviser Avi Halevy will mull legal action in order to prevent and address instances of forgery and impersonations of the prime minister on the Internet in general and Facebook in particular,” the statement said.
The Likud noted that it has seen an uptick in Netanyahu impersonators online in recent months.