09 April 2020; MEMO: The grandson of the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin apologised on Wednesday for wishing in a tweet that the chairman of the Likud Party and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would catch the coronavirus and be sick, spending the rest of his life in prison.
“If Netanyahu lied to the Israeli nation and in fact only pulled a trick by saying ‘we need an emergency unity coronavirus government’ and actually meaning elections, then he deserves [to catch] coronavirus and live out the rest of his days sick in prison,” wrote Yonatan Ben Artzi on Twitter. In a separate tweet, he added that, “Whoever uses human illness like the coronavirus for politics, deserves coronavirus. That is disregard and mockery for human lives.”
Ben Artzi’s posts sparked angry reactions from other social media users. The Likud party accused him of incitement.
After deleting his original post, Ben Artzi said “I do not wish for anyone to get the coronavirus even Netanyahu, I apologise for that.”
The Prime Minister said on Tuesday evening that he had been tested for the virus and the result was negative. He noted that his 14-day quarantine period would end on Wednesday.
