Perhaps event hotter than here in the United States.
This is Israel’s Habima Square, and is a statue of a naked Benjamin Netanyahu, current Prime Minister. Mazal Mualem of AL-Monitor reports:
Six days before Israel’s March 23 elections, someone placed a statue of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv’s Habima Square. The statue was of a naked, squatting prime minister hiding behind a wall.
This protest display bears a resemblance to the Gollum figure from the iconic “The Lord of the Rings” films and books. Gollum was a monstrous character, split into two different personages. But the Netanyahu figure also hints at another classic situation: “The Emperor has no clothes.”
Two points:
Right-wing media personality Shimon Riklin, also a strong supporter of Netanyahu, tweeted: “This is not art, it is trash! Trash meant to humiliate all of us. The statue still sits there. Of course, no one removed it. And that’s even a good thing. Because now, everyone will see and wake up to vote against those that hate him so much.”
And that is exactly the question: Do these displays ridiculing Netanyahu’s image manage to bring down his popularity? Or perhaps the opposite is true?
Indeed. Remember the humiliating statue of a naked President Trump? Yeah, I can barely remember it myself, and I’ll refrain from a reprint in view of my Art Editor’s aesthetic sensibility, but that faintness in my memory speaks to the relative ineffectuality of simply humiliating political foes. Its potential for bringing out Netanyahu’s supporters to the polls for the imminent election appears to be high. Perhaps it’ll rally the anti-Netanyahu vote. Or perhaps it won’t, if local mores leave citizens more offended that it exists than of the reminder of Netanyahu’s failures.
In that sense, this is the work of an amateur, especially for the longest serving prime minister in Israeli history. But there is also this problematic observation:
Halit Oliamperl, a producer and creator of cultural events who lives close to Habima Square, explained to the media, “This is kicking-and-screaming art. The resemblance of the statue to Gollum from The Lord of the Rings clearly symbolizes a ruler who has decayed. Also, over the years, there are arguments whether he is an evil creature or a creature to which bad things have happened. So when people present Netanyahu in the form of this Gollum, it really and truly symbolizes this decay.”
Or just a man who made self-interested choices, who could not resist temptation. There is no doubt he’s a man of immense ego, and that in itself should be a factor in choosing Members of the Knesset. And it’s worth noting that’s Netanyahu’s main selling point – his longevity – rather than any immense diplomatic achievements. I’d say late prime minister Menachem Begin will remain more admired by historians than Netanyahu.
