Yair Netanyahu, 29-year-old social media-savvy son of Israel Prime Minister is making headlines for all the wrong reasons.

He wrote to WION this evening: ‘I love India, Jai Hind’. The story goes back to the weekend. On Sunday, Yair Netanyahu tweeted a satirical photo.

 

It was a superimposed image of Hindu deity Goddess Durga. Her many arms were raised — showing the middle finger.

The caption read- know your place, you despicable people. This tweet was offensive to many, especially Indians and they criticised Yair Netanyahu for insulting Hinduism.

Some Twitter users did give him the benefit of doubt. They said Yair Netanyahu may be ignorant about the Hindu faith. But overall, the response was not in his favour.

Yair was forced to take the photo down and de followed it with an apology…

‘I’ve tweeted a meme from a satirical page, criticising political figures in Israel. I didn’t realize the meme also portrayed an image connected to the majestic Hindu faith. I apologize’

The political figures he referring to was Liar Ben Ari. His face was superimposed on the diety’s face. Ari is the prosecutor in Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption cases. In the photo beside him was Israel’s attorney general Avichai Mandelbit. His face was superimposed on that of the tiger.

 Both Mandelbit and Ben Ari are important figures in Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption cases. The prime minister is currently under trial and faces a total of 3 cases. If convicted, the 70-year-old prime minister could be behind bars for more than a decade. This is just one of the many problems facing Netanyahu right now…

Meanwhile, problems are rising along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon and Syria. Israeli forces have clashed with the Hezbollah. It is a Lebanese armed group- funded by Iran. Heavy shelling was reported after Israel claimed that it has thwarted an infiltration attempt by the Hezbollah. The latter denied it. But Netanyahu says his country will do everything necessary to defend itself, saying “My impression is that the Israeli army is well prepared for any possible scenario. We continue to take action to prevent Iranian military entrenchment in our region”.

There have been no casualties so far but the conflict can escalate any moment given the bitter enmity between the two sides. Israel and the Hezbollah had fought a month-long war back in 2006. The conflict that followed killed around 1200 people in Lebanon. Israel has lost over 121 soldiers and 44 civilians.

Israel’s northern frontier happens to be among the most combustible fronts in the region.

The recent flare-up comes days after a Hezbollah member was killed in an alleged Israeli airstrike.