Palestinian/ Israeli update 12/06/2016..'Bibi' Statue Toppled in Tel Aviv

Golden ‘King Bibi’ statue stirs debate in Israel

‘Bibi’ Statue Toppled in Tel Aviv

A gilded statue of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, stirred condemnation from Israel’s culture minister and was toppled by an onlooker after a brief public appearance on Tuesday.

Sculptor Itay Zalait told reporters he had placed the four meter (13 foot) tall effigy of Netanyahu on a white pedestal in Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square, adjacent to city hall but a passerby pushed it down to the ground, the Forward reported. Posting on Facebook after the guerrilla-art sculpture was erected, Israel’s Culture Minister Miri Regev called it an “expression of hatred towards Netanyahu.” Tel Aviv municipal officials ordered Zalait to remove the statue and said they would haul it away and fine him if he refused.

Morning commuters gathered to snap photos and debate whether the statue should be seen as mockery of Netanyahu or homage to the right-wing prime minister, now in his fourth term and known by his childhood nickname “Bibi.” “In the social media, there have been tens of thousands of comments about ‘King Bibi’,” Zalait said on Army Radio when asked what had inspired him to create the statue.

Shortly after city hall’s deadline for the statue’s removal expired, a man in the crowd pushed “King Bibi” to the ground. It made a soft “clink” as it hit the pavement and the artist, who seemed amused, took it away, still in one piece, on a truck.

Netanyahu and his wife Sara have drawn legal scrutiny and frequent headlines over whether state funds have been used to support what critics decry as their lavish lifestyle.

In Tel Rumeida, a Palestinian Neighborhood of Hebron, the residents are locked up by a Israeli military checkpoint. If the can prove to be registered by the Israeli occupier as a real resident, they can pass that checkpoint.

They are not allowed to drive in their streets with cars, motorbikes or scooters.
Colonial settlers can pass whenever they like, even with their cars, without being controlled, although In the back of their cars, most settlers have the M16, an automatic military assault rifle.

New Zionist facts on the ground are Hebrew-English street signs, pointing at Jewish Neighborhoods’ (instead of illegal colonial settlements) and locations of alleged Jewish heritage. One of them is the ‘Shabad Cemetery’.

Shortly after the placement of those street signs in the old center of Hebron, there was a colonial funeral in the Shabad Cemetery.

More then 50 cars from Israel and from illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine arrived and parked in this neighborhood for a short funeral ceremony.
It is fabricated settler violence in a Palestine community that is already troubled by daily settler violence

Targeting Islam in Palestine

Israeli Arabs sign up for Israeli army in a bid to belong