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.
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.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
