Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Push Your Way to Front Like Bibi

(JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has a knack for embroiling himself in political sideshows during foreign memorial services.

He entered Israel’s latest tempest in a teapot earlier this week, attending the march for victims of France’s terror attacks even though French President Francois Hollande asked him not to. Israeli media outlets are now reporting that Netanyahu pushed his way past other world leaders so he could get to the front of the crowd.

Among his previous funeral-related controversies: When British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher died in 2013, Netanyahu came under fire domestically for installing a $127,000 bed on the plane for his five-hour flight to the state funeral — right when he was trying to pass an austerity budget.

Eight months later, when South African President Nelson Mandela died, Netanyahu made the news by planning to attend the memorial service and then pulling out, saying it would cost too much.

Like the other short-lived scandals, the Paris memorial controversy will probably blow over pretty soon. But in the meantime it’s led to something of an Internet gem.

The youth division of the rival Labor party has given us Push Bibi, an 8-bit video game where you have 30 seconds to guide Netanyahu past other heads of state to the front of the memorial procession.

Think of it as Frogger, Israeli diplomacy edition.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.