Netanyahu's brother-in-law overreacts to Netanyahu's son dating a Gentile

[Nye Bevan]

News that the prime minister’s son, who is 23, is dating Sandra Leikanger, 25, was first reported by the Norwegian daily Dagen. The tall, svelte blonde met the younger Netanyahu at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, where the two study.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly told Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week that his son traveled with Leikanger in Norway over the summer, and that the two had been dating for months.

In an interview with ultra-Orthodox website Kikar HaShabbat, Ben-Artzi urged his nephew to cut ties with his new girlfriend, and warned him that should he choose to pursue the relationship, Ben-Artzi would personally see to it that he would not be allowed near his grandparents’ graves.

“It’s terrible,” Ben-Artzi said. “Just terrible, and the son of the prime minister no less. It is the worst thing that is threatening and was a threat throughout the history of the Jews.” Should his nephew marry Leikanger, Ben-Artzi said he “would bury myself, I don’t know what I would do with myself, I’d take to the streets and rip the hair out of my head — and here it’s coming true.”

http://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-sons-romance-with-gentile-sparks-orthodox-outcry/

Wow. Isn't it more important that she's a nice person and that they are happy together?

[atreides1]

1. Religious belief or Racism?

Perhaps a combination of the two....

[Xithras]

3. It's racism. It's source is irrelevant.

There's zero difference between this and my own uncles meltdown when he found out that my lily-white Irish-Danish sister was marrying a Mexican guy.

When you object to someone simply because of the nation of their birth, or the color of their skin, or the "faith of their people" it's racism. Whether it originated from tradition, your parents, or some outdated religious text doesn't change that fact.

[Madam Mossfern]

4. Yes

he should bury himself, run out into the street and rip the hair out of his head. He's a jerk and hopefully part of a dying breed.



disclosure: I'm Jewish

on edit: By 'dying breed' I meant xenophobes, not Jews.

[rafeh1]

5. as Israel's new generation

as Israel's new generation lives and interacts and marries with other ethnic people hopefully Israels ethno racism will recede..

[Voice for Peace]

6. Juan Cole has a piece today

http://www.juancole.com/2014/01/israeli-netanyahu-norwegian.html