The Potemkin Kitchen

Zionism is all about deception... and self-deception.

Palestine is Ersatz* Israel.

The Apartheid State is a Light Unto the Nations.

Anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism.

Freedom fighters are terrorists (and vice versa).

The Haram ash-Sharif is the Temple Mount.

David Grun, of Plonsk, Poland, is David Ben-Gurion.

Black is white.

Up is down... and so on.

Oh, and Benjamin Mileikowsky** is Binyamin (Fibi) Netanyahu. 

Which brings me to Fibi's kitchen (s):

"In a preemptive strike before the release of the report [by the Israeli State Comptroller condemning the Netanyahus for 'excessive spending' at both the prime minister's official residence at 2 Balfour Street in Jerusalem and the couple's private beachfront villa in Caesarea] the Netanyahus had the Israeli interior designer Moshik Galamin over to film a walk-through of the official residence, to show the people the couple do not live in the lap of luxury but rather must endure tired carpets, dusty lamps and the kitchen from hell.

"A 15-minute episode was released via social media on Sunday by the decorator with full participation by the Netanyahus and their people. It is high camp. When Mr Galamin, dressed all in black, isn't gushing, he is holding his hand to his cheeks in mock shriek. Quelle horreur! Dingy drapes! As they tour the residence, Sara Netanyahu has to yank open stuck doors. She apologises for the dust and an arrangement of wilting flowers still on display 3 weeks after she received them from the visiting Japanese prime minister.

"The piece de resistance of the tour is the kitchen, which, depending on whether you are an average Israeli voter or an average Israeli interior decorator, is either a bit frumpy... or a dump. 'I am shocked that this is your kitchen!' Mr Galamin declares. He says it reminds him of a '1960s public health clinic' or 'a Romanian orphanage.' Quick-eyed Israeli reporters noticed right away that the kitchen presented in the video is not the Netanyahu's only kitchen. It is the staff kitchen, they said, the working galley where chefs whip up dinner for guests. There is a modern, unrevealed kitchen for the couple's use on the second floor." (Benjamin Netanyahu's $30,000 takeout bill is causing a scandal, William Booth, Washington Post/Sydney Morning Herald, 18/2/15)

[*See my posts Ersatz Israel 1 (12/7/12) & 2 (13/7/12); **See my 24/9/11 post Benzion, My Father.]