Kissing Cousins, Israel Election Edition

By Renee Ghert-Zand December 3, 2012

Loverboy Bibi is at it again.

Last year we caught Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu kissing Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Now he’s locking lips with Israeli Labor Party leader Shelly Yachimovich.

Well, not exactly.

Back in November 2011 Benetton photoshopped the embrace between Bibi and Abu Mazen as part of its controversial UNHATE ad campaign. There were lots of other highly unlikely couples, like President Obama and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and the leaders of North Korea and South Korea.

Now, the Israeli leftist party Meretz has produced altered parody images for another campaign — the one for the Israeli elections scheduled for January 23. There is the image of Bibi and Yachimovich. There is also one of Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman kissing Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid, to draw attention to Lapid’s refusal to pledge that he will not enter a coalition with Netanyahu’s Likud party following the elections and the likely event that Netanyahu will remain prime minister.

“We wished to provide an amusing and provocative illustration of what will happen to the votes of those who vote for the center parties, which are competing among themselves for the role of senior partner in Netanyahu’s next government,” said Roy Yellin, head of the Meretz campaign.

In case the photoshopped campaign posters alone do not make the point, Meretz also added a line of text on the Bibi-Yachimovich one. “I am yours and you are mine,” it says. In the Hebrew, “ani shelcha ve’at sheli,” it is a clever play-on-words of Yachimovich’s first name.

We haven’t yet seen the one with Tzipi Livni, who is running on the newly formed centrist Hatnua ticket. Who will she be kissing — Netanyahu or Lieberman? Maybe Meretz will go all out this time with a risqué Livni-Bieberman threesome?

The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Forward. Discover more perspectives in Opinion. To contact Opinion authors, email [email protected].

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO