President Reuven Rivlin wrote on his Facebook page: “the poster crossed lines” and was incitement against Netanyahu.”
Ram Shefa, the National Union of Israeli Students’ chairman, commented, “As young people, students, freedom of expression is extremely important. It produces value, criticism, involvement, certainly in art disciplines, academia and in general. However, we will never agree with calls to violence of any kind whatsoever. All types of opinions are worthy of the spotlight, but not at the cost of incitement.”
Leader of the Opposition Isaac Herzog and Culture Minister Miri Regev also condemned the poster separately, also supporting freedom of expression but drawing the line at inciting to violence. Regev posited that if it were Herzog depicted in the picture, “There would have been arrests already. I call on Minister of Education Bennett and say the time has come for you too to draw a line between art and incitement.”
Regardless, they said, the creation was a creation internal to Bezalel “as part of an ongoing dialogue on design, art and culture, including the issues of borders, reproducing images and memory. The exercise, more or less successful, is part of professional discourse, hung on the internal wall in a stairwell in the academy and not presented publicly, has no political incitement and should be judged accordingly.”
Kim Jong Netanyhu in Gold: Statue of PM Netanyahu mysteriously appears in Tel Aviv
Last week, an artist installed a golden statue of Netanyahu in a central Tel Aviv square, where late PM Yitzhak Rabin was murdered. That drew a stream of selfie-taking by passersby before it was toppled by city workers.
