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A GOLDEN STATUE of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu that stood over four metres high was raised secretly in a Tel Aviv square in a free speech protest yesterday – and has been promptly pulled down
It was put up illegally early yesterday morning in the centre of the Israeli commercial capital in a square named after former premier Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated in 1995 by a Jewish extremist.
Israeli artist Itay Zalait claimed responsibility, saying he wanted to spark a debate on freedom of speech by replicating the kind of statue erected by dictatorial regimes.
Passers-by gathered out of curiosity yesterday, with some taking selfies in front of the 15-foot depiction of the controversial right-wing leader, erected as a commentary on the idolatry he inspires among some conservative Israelis.
“I did it to check one thing: can I do it?” Zalait told AFP.
Will this work be allowed and will there be sanctions?
The response was immediate. Culture Minister Miri Regev hit back on Facebook, denouncing the statue as an “expression of hatred” towards Netanyahu, who has been nicknamed King Bibi for his taste for fine dining and authoritarian tendencies.
“How an artist can be disconnected from reality!” she wrote.
Referring to the biblical episode in which the Israelites are punished by God for idol worshipping, Regev added:
Israel is a democracy, one of the freest countries… the hatred of Netanyahu is their only true Golden Calf.
Saddam
Within hours the Netanyahu statue had been toppled, apparently by a member of the public.
On social media, Israelis joked that it was reminiscent of the iconic Saddam Hussein statue pulled down after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Left-leaning artists have accused Netanyahu’s government of seeking to muzzle them, particularly with Regev’s promotion of a bill to cut subsidies to cultural institutions deemed not “loyal” to the state.
Netanyahu also leads what is seen as the most right-wing government in Israeli history, and critics accuse him of consolidating power.
In addition to being premier, he also holds the economy, foreign affairs, communication and regional affairs portfolios.
Hammer
Zalait said he wanted to open a debate around Israeli attitudes to Netanyahu by placing the statue at the spot where Rabin, who won the Nobel prize for his peace efforts with the Palestinians, was killed.
He said:
The reaction of the Israelis interests me, from those who say they would like to see more statues like that on the squares of the country to those who want to demolish it with a hammer.
In the United States in August, a group of artists installed giant and unflattering statues in several American cities of Donald Trump, with the then presidential candidate entirely naked.
- © AFP, 2016 with reporting from Darragh Peter Murphy.
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A better name fro the app would have been dick Tracey….
Oh no he didn’t :)
Genius!
or trace dicky
Or mickey scoop!
Class, Emperor! Give that man 1,000 thumbs (green of course!)
Now I wonder why that app was removed? Seriously..imagine the madness it would cause!
Women…ya couldn’t be up to them Ted…
My wife doesn’t need an app like this…..
She knows you’ll be in the church!
Brilliant one Reg! Gold star for you.
Defo gold star Reg!
Good one Reg :-)
If you start downloading boyfriend trackers you really shouldn’t be in a relationship. Talk about stalking to the extreme. It all about trust!
Yep
No trust, no relationship, end of!
Besides whatever happened to good ol fashioned ‘female intuition’
Every single person out there does the dirt when the opportunity is there. Ones that say they Dont usually are the ones that cheat the most.
Yeah Doey – and the reasons the app was removed? “fears of extortion and stalking”. Nothing to do with the fact if it was called “girlfriend tracker” the fu*king thing would have made frontpage headlines all over the world as being sexist or some other such. Nope it wasn’t removed because it was morally wrong, anti male, and likely illegal,
That says much about the trust issues you’ve got going on Omar.
I can honestly say I would only ever do the dirt with Scarlett Johansson or my man crush Mr Ryan Gosling…. and im sure the missus would be more than happy to join us!
No I just notice from my own relationships and,all my freinds relationships. Male and female.
Oh Gosling….why can’t women be more like you ha ha ;)
Well if you’re into a relationship making it clear you expect to be cheated on…
Word bro!!
I’m pretty sure regardless of the name there’s massive legal issues – how is that not considered stalking? Not to mention that abuse is founded on control – and knowing where someone is at all times seems rather abusive and controlling to me…
Do you really think most people on here think it’s less crap because it’s called “boyfriend” rather than “girlfriend” tracker?
How did this get on there in the first place? All the ruined relationships….. well all the cheating snakes caught out anyway, but why call it boyfriend tracker? Im sure girls cheat too!
Probably an app developed by a company owned by an American government arm. You might think that’s off point or conspiracy theory stuff but if I’m not mistaken Facebook has investment from such a company.
Also it normalises the disgusting behaviour of spying on people which that blatant and found out liar Obama signed off on and has denied. Call me what you want, I’m insult and thumb proof.
Sorry Sean, I didn’t mean to have a rant on your point. I love you. I just can’t believe a product like this has got that far in the first place. Totally weird to me how somebody could do that and let it happen. If one of my wives had that app she would be gone so fast. So fast.
One of your wives? How many do you have?
I love you too
6 but all under different pseudonyms. Say nothing. I’m am endangered species.
But Ade…. U told ME u wer single!!??!?? :-)
Ann, my sweet Ann. These wives….They understand me.
Me and my girlfriend are in an open relationship.
It isn’t ideal but means neither of us get jealous. She can see other men and I don’t have to leave my wife.
Maybe try another wife who’s happy with you…
I’m sure there’s a joke in there about a girlfriend tracker and the kitchen somewhere.
They tried to develop a phone tracker as a safety aid for old people with dementia. It turned out to be a great way of finding forgotten jackets and handbags. Lost old people, no so much.
And Im sure a girlfriend tracker would lead to allegations of misogyny, patriarchy etc. Thered be 3 or 4 “news” articles about it here followed by a long, boring lecture from Lisa McInerney
For shame, Chuck. Lisa’s mission to bring down the phallocracy is obviously lost on your penocratic mindset. Farrelly is also similar to “feely” which indicates a deeply ingrained sense of male privilege.
Nah, Chuck, we’d just be shaking our heads at psycho boyfriends, like we’re shaking our heads at psycho girlfriends right now. Let’s not get the old, tired feminazi crap going again.
Any bf who realised his gf had that app Should remove her from the play store ^-^ #psycho
To be honest, it would make a nice change to this tracking collar and boom mic.
HahahahahaH
I love you, captain. *sigh*
It’s mutual Simo, Old friends are best.
Guys, Ibis are doing a special this weekend ;-)
Bobby my man, I just googled IBIS, if I’m not mistaken it’s some discount hotel like Lenny Henry promotes. We stay in places that don’t discount.
‘You a customer I get it custom made’
All jokin aside download the app and you’ll know where to meet me x
Great, google removed it! Who wants to go out with me??? :)
If I was going out with a bird who bugged my phone I’d do the dirt and get caught purposely then obviously dump her. Finally I would call the police and have her arrested
That’s a shame, Paul, because it sounds like you and that type of woman would be perfect for each other!
There are things we know we know, and there are things we know we don’t know. But there are also things we don’t know we don’t know. These are the things we are better off not knowing
You can’t unknow what you have known either
If you need an approach check on your other half
Well then you shouldn’t have an other half what happened trust ?
APP. Dam iPhone !!!!!
Does it hurt being that psychotic ladies? The constant wondering what your BF is at, your BFF is saying, why some bitch you dont like in accounts is wearing a dress you’d like to the wedding of someone you dont know. I mean, it must be exhausting no?
Excuse me a sec:
“What Sweetie? No, I’m on the journal….. no darling…. no flirting on here……. no…. love ya……no, not porno either…… put my phone down please”
I can’t even imagine how many relationships this ruined..
The app wouldn’t ruin anything that wasn’t already ruined. If you are at a stage in your relationship that you need to install a app like that, then…… Your relationship is no more.
I ran a mobile dept of an independent telecommunications in the UK. My bast@ard ex boy friend sent me a thing like this to track certain phones on your computer . I thought it was great and the sales boys could use it as employers could track employees on the road by this. I never actually tried it though before I sent it off to the sales manager. Yeah it was a gag. Everyone usually types in their partners number to try it out and it supposedly tracks the signal to a bedroom in a house where you got two grainy grey images of two people doing it . You can imagine the sales managers reaction. I was mortified. Still he sent it on to everyone in the place and caught them all with it. I on the other lost all my managers cred there and then . You can see now why boyfriend is an ex lol
They could of made a girlfriend tracker too.
im sure it couldve been used as a girlfiemd tracker too
What you’re looking for is a ‘girlfriend finder’ slight difference ;-)
You “download” apps. The developer of those apps “upload” them.
If the ball was on the other foot, like “track my bird” there would be uproar. Men are bad, mmmmkay? Like those bad men who forced some innocent girls to smuggle marmalade out of Peru.
How on earth did it get on the play store to start with? Is there no vetting at all on that thing?
There’s some really messed up people out there. Whoever a) developed the thing and b) downloaded it, has some serious issues – ones that certainly won’t be resolved by the app, some heavy duty counselling would be more appropriate.
Crazy Bit@hes.
People on here banging on about trust, oh you have to trust your partner, no sir…your partner must do their utmost to instill in you to help you trust them if either one finds themselves in a situation that may compromise them
And it was even backwards compatible with the clam shell Motorola.
Extreme to say the least
If you’re lookiing for an app to track you boyfriend cheating, here on http://www.iphonespyapps.net you can find the best tracker app with a cost of a cup of coffee.
Yeah, came across a gadget that does the same thing… http://www.boomerangtracker.com
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