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'King Bibi' Netanyahu statue attacked by Israeli culture minister King Bibi for a day: golden Netanyahu statue is toppled
(about 2 hours later)
A gilded statue of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, erected in a Tel Aviv square and dubbed “King Bibi” by its guerrilla-artist creator, has caused bemusement from passersby and condemnation from the country’s culture minister. The nickname King Bibi for Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long been in circulation. It refers to his reputed imperial tendencies, his political gifts and his taste for fine living.
Sculptor Itay Zaliet told reporters on Tuesday he placed the 13ft effigy on a white pedestal in Rabin Square, adjacent to the city hall, to test the limits of freedom of expression in Israel. Now the conceit has been given a new currency via the sudden if brief - appearance of a large golden statue of Netanyahu in Tel Aviv’s most famous square, satirising the prime minister’s years in office and the allegations of scandal that have surrounded the management of his household.
The Israeli government and artists have been locked in a so-called “culture war” over steps by the culture minister, Miri Regev, to withhold state funds from institutions that do not express loyalty to the state. Appearing unexpectedly overnight in Rabin Square, the statue, on a white plinth, attracted the attention of scores of residents who waited to take selfies. But Netanyahu’s ministers, rushing to denounce the guerrilla art installation, made clear they were not amused.
In a Facebook post after the sculpture was erected, Regev called it an “expression of hatred towards Netanyahu” that represented an elite class “whose only golden calf is the hatred of Netanyahu”. Leading the charge against the sculptor, Itay Zalait, was the culture minister, Miri Regev, a leading figure in the right’s culture war against Israeli artists deemed left-wing or too elite. She denounced the statue as an “expression of hatred towards Netanyahu”.
Tel Aviv municipal officials ordered Zaliet to remove the statue and said they would take it away and fine him if he refused. For their part, Tel Aviv municipal officials ordered Zalait to remove the statue and said they would haul it away and fine him if he refused.
Morning commuters quickly gathered to take photographs and debate whether the statue should be seen as mockery of Netanyahu or homage to the rightwing prime minister, now in his fourth term and known by his childhood nickname “Bibi”. Zalait, who had said the installation depicted “the situation we find ourselves in”, complied, inviting Israelis to help “topple Netanyahu” from his plinth. It was a task which they dutifully carried out, with pictures later showing the statue on its side.
One woman bowed down in jest in front of the statue, which Zaliet said took him three months to sculpt. Zalait describes his approach on his website as using “humour and sarcasm to point out automatic, absurd and unaware aspects dealing with the freedom of choice”. A painter as well as sculptor, he had told Israeli media organisations that he planned “a subversive artistic political act which will garner much media attention”.
“In the social media, there have been tens of thousands of comments about ‘King Bibi’,” Zaliet said on Army Radio when asked what had inspired him to create the statue. Speaking on Army Radio about his installation, Zalait explained: “In the social media, there have been tens of thousands of comments about ‘King Bibi’. I simply made it a reality and put it in its deserved place, the Kings of Israel Square.” The reference was to the plaza’s name before it was changed to honour Yitzhak Rabin, the Israeli prime minister assassinated by an ultra-nationalist during a peace rally there in 1995.
“I simply made it a reality and put it in its deserved place, the Kings of Israel Square,” he said, referring to the plaza’s name before it was changed to honour Yitzhak Rabin, the Israeli prime minister assassinated by an ultranationalist Jew during a peace rally in 1995. Morning commuters snapping selfies with the statue were divided over whether it should be seen as mockery of Netanyahu, now in his fourth term, or a tribute to him. One woman bowed down in jest in front of the statue, which Zaliet said took him three months to sculpt.
One passerby, Nina Lobel, said the portrayal of Netanyahu was “horrendous” and that the artist had wanted “to show him as a dictator”. Yael Dayan, a former city councillor, told Haaretz the installation was a “big middle finger in all our faces. He is the king of Tel Aviv. It shows Israelis that Tel Aviv too is under Netanyahu’s regime.”
Netanyahu and his wife Sara have attracted legal scrutiny and frequent headlines over whether state funds have been used to support what critics decry as their lavish lifestyle. “The golden calf that was my initial association,” another Tel Aviv resident told the paper. Another passerby, Nina Lobel, said the portrayal of Netanyahu was “horrendous” in that the artist had wanted “to show him as a dictator”.
Both have denied any misuse of taxpayers’ money.