Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara demanded that their eldest son, Yair, stop his activities on social media networks and confronted him about his extreme statements, Walla News discovered on Thursday.
Yair Netanyahu is one of the leading right-wing activists on Twitter and has active accounts on other social networks, but since the prime minister's announcement regarding the temporary halt on judicial reform legislation, he has paused his own activities in an unusual way.
According to three reliable close sources, his social media break is the result of a demand from his parents, who told him he was causing harm and asked him to "calm down" and lower his profile. The demand caused a severe family conflict, defined by those close to them as an "explosion". At the beginning of the week, Netanyahu Jr. was seen at Ben-Gurion Airport, on his way to the United States. According to the information obtained by Walla News, he is expected to stay there for several months.
Yair Netanyahu is one of his father's, and the Likud Party's, strongest and most influential activists on social media, but his extreme positions and statements also fuel the protests against the government and cause Netanyahu embarrassment and damage.
For example, a tweet in which he spread a conspiracy theory that accuses the US State Department of encouraging and financing the protest in Israel - in cooperation with Iran - caused great outrage in the US administration. At the end of last month, he also lost a libel suit against former MK Stav Shafir for a series of defamatory tweets against her.
Netanyahu's clash over Twitter
Netanyahu Jr. last tweeted on March 28, a day after the prime minister announced the freeze on the judicial reform legislation and two days after the US State Department condemned his tweets. According to two of the sources, the prime minister and his wife "informed Yair that he should stop tweeting" and later also demanded that he stop sharing content on other social networks, and the demand provoked great anger on the part of their son, who expressed opposition.
Prime Minister Netanyahu vehemently denies his son's involvement and influence on his decision-making, and at the press conference he called this week he said that "It's ridiculous, my son is an independent person with his own opinions. My son Yair has zero influence over my decisions."
However, according to many testimonies of close associates and sources in Likud, he is very involved in politics and media policy and conduct. According to close sources, Yair Netanyahu strongly opposed the Prime Minister's decision to stop the legal reforms, and was also one of the forces that pushed for the dismissal of Defense Minister Yoav Galant.