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Netanyahu Goes on an Anti-Smartphone Rampage

11 years ago
4 Comments
by ck
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Last week during a photo and interview session with the foreign press in Jerusalem, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu went on a bit of an anti-smartphone rampage. At first he wondered why the assembled photographers needed to take so many photos. And then he went on a “kids these days” tirade:

I don’t understand this new world (understatement of the decade) When do they have time to live? They’re taking pictures all the time…. Only taking pictures, that’s all they do. Pictures, pictures, pictures…

An off camera voice opines “if you did not take a picture, it’s as if you didn’t live…” To which Netanyahu concludes “I’m the only one here without all these electronic devices, I’m a free man, and you all are slaves … You are slaves!”

Viber and Waze are only two of dozens if not hundreds of mobile apps helping to fuel Israel’s current tech boom – with talk of Israel being in the midst of a bubble that is set to burst soon, the PM adopting a Luddite position might not be such a good idea. And yes, maybe we are “slaves” to our devices but we can’t all have the staff a head of state has that does everything for him, I mean can you imagine Netanyahu ordering a cab on GetTaxi? That having been said, I bet that if Golda Meir had a smart phone, she’d for sure use Moovit to check for the next bus that would take her to the Shuk. Oh how our leadership has changed. Or maybe Sarah stressed him out that day. Who knows.

Maybe Bibi and the Hassidic kid below should get together and force everyone to get filters on their phones that block both Internet and “pictures, pictures, pictures!”

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ck

Founder and Publisher of Jewlicious, David Abitbol lives in Jerusalem with his wife, newborn daughter and toddler son. Blogging as "ck" he's been blocked on twitter by the right and the left, so he's doing something right.

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4 Comments

  • He’s right. I ain’t got one, and I am a free man whenever I am not in the office or in front of the PC at home. I am not connected to facebook all day, or wassup either. For sure, I do not have the occasional convenience of waze or the zillion other apps that would clog up the phone, drain battery time, and also allow the app developers access to everything.

  • Maybe Bibi is worried that one of these devices that take “pictures, pictures, pictures” will catch him doing something that he shouldn’t as PM.

    He’s been in hot water before for questionable actions while in office. It may not be just his being out of touch that is showing here, but it could also be more than a hint of paranoia as well. I’m just sayin’…

  • If Bibi could not comprehend Jewlicious, how could he possibly understand a smartphone! Out.of.touch.with.the.present.