Staying back in Miami, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s son has faced criticism as 360,000 reservists have returned home to confront Hamas.
Yair Netanyahu, 32, has been residing in Florida since April following his father’s directive to refrain from making provocative social media posts, which had led to multiple defamation lawsuits against him.
Meanwhile, approximately 360,000 reservists have been mobilized, prompting many of them to hastily return to Israel to join the fight against Hamas.
Some soldiers expressed annoyance towards Yair’s decision to remain in Miami. One volunteer, serving on Israel’s northern front, remarked to The Times, “Yair is enjoying his life at Miami Beach while I’m on the front lines.”
Another soldier, deployed to the border with Gaza, questioned Yair’s absence, stating, “I’ve flown back from the States where I have a job, a life, my family. There is no way I can stay there and abandon my country, my people, at this critical time. Where is the prime minister’s son? Why isn’t he in Israel?”
Numerous soldiers conveyed a sense of unity and urgency, with one emphasizing, “It is the most uniting moment for us as Israelis in our recent history and every single one of us should be here right now, including the prime minister’s son.”
Yair, who pursued theatre studies in high school, completed compulsory military service and served in the spokesman’s unit of IDF, opting not to be a combat soldier.
Compulsory military service is mandatory for the majority of Israelis upon reaching 18 years of age, with men serving 32 months and women 24. Following this, most can be called up to reserve units until the age of 40, or even later in the event of a national emergency, and they join regular troops during times of war.
