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Yair Netanyahu: Kibbutzim are a throwback to Nazi, Soviet eras

“Kibbutzim are something that don’t exist outside of North Korea,” the younger Netanyahu said in an interview with a local radio station.

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

Yair Netanyahu, son of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is no stranger to high-profile social media spats, and the kibbutz movement is the latest target in his crosshairs.

“Kibbutzim are something that don’t exist outside of North Korea,” Netanyahu said during an interview with a local radio station.

“We always know how ideas for utopian societies end. In the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, there was a desire to create exemplary societies and utopian societies. It never ends well, the desire to engineer human society.”

The comparison of kibbutzim, or communal settlements, to Nazi Germany may be seen as insensitive, considering that Diaspora Affairs Minister Omer Yankelevich recently demanded an apology from CNN for Christiane Amanpour’s remarks comparing the Trump administration to Nazi Germany.

Yair Netanyahu has a history of criticizing Kibbutzim and their residents. In July, he confronted left-wing Kibbutzniks via Twitter, calling them “communists who stole half the country’s land.”

He went on the offensive after the Kibbutz Movement posted an image promoting protests against the prime minister.

The image depicted anti-Netanyahu protests that have taken place on freeway overpasses throughout Israel over the last few months.

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“The Kibbutzim are fighting for democracy!” read the image’s text, which included dates and times for upcoming protests and the official seal of the Kibbutz Movement in the bottom left corner.

Kibbutzim have a reputation in Israel as bastions of liberal and left-wing politics, and kibbutz voters are widely considered the natural base of the Labor and Meretz parties.

In the past year, the younger Netanyahu came under fire for provocative posts on social media, one of which implied that prominent journalist Dana Weiss had gotten her job due to her sex appeal.

After Weiss threatened a libel suit, Yair apologized. His apology was shared on the Prime Minister’s social media accounts.

This past summer, Yair posted a tweet containing an image of Liat Ben Ari, the prosecutor in his father’s pending criminal case, as a multiple-armed Hindu goddess.

After an outcry from Hindus who were offended by the image, he deleted the tweet and apologized.

“I’ve tweeted a meme from a satirical page, criticizing political figures in Israel,” he explained.

“I didn’t realize the meme also portrayed an image connected to the majestic Hindu faith. As soon as I realized it from comments of our Indian friends, I have removed the tweet. I apologize.”