A shekel for the poor prime minister

After the emergence of a video showing the purportedly dilapidated state of the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Jerusalem residence, the youth division of political rivals the Zionist Union quickly fired off a response clip showing activists trying to collect charity for the PM in Tel Aviv.

An introductory title to the video, published Tuesday, explains that “this week the citizens of Israel were exposed to the difficult sight of the housing crisis in the home of a young couple from the area of Jerusalem and Caesarea,” a reference to the location of the prime minister’s official residence and his private villa.

The intro goes on to explain that the Zionist Union youth felt compelled to help.

In the scenes that follow, activists armed with collection cups are shown on the streets of Tel Aviv urging passersby to spare some change for the Netanyahus, a “needy family” who “live in public housing.”

The charity workers lament that the reported budget for the official residence, some NIS 4.5 million a year ($1.16 million), is not enough for the upkeep of a household and as a result the plaster is peeling and the carpets are worn and threadbare.

“If you would see it you wouldn’t believe how Jews are living in Israel in the year 2015,” a faux coin collector tells passing pedestrians.

Another explains that the activists are just trying to raise enough to buy the Netanyahus a bath mat while one collector wails that “there isn’t enough water in the swimming pool.”

At the end of the clip, beneath a logo showing a dejected-looking Netanyahu, a slogan calls on the public to reach out to Israel’s first family.

The clip was a response to a video posted Monday by celebrity interior designer Moshik Galamin,in which he was given a tour of the Prime Minister’s Residence by none other than Netanyahu’s wife, Sara.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=786813988060083&pnref=story

Galamin inspects the premises and gives his professional opinion. To his horror, Galamin discovers, as he is guided around for 15 minutes by Netanyahu, that the residence is in serious disrepair. The plaster is crumbling and the paint is peeling due to dampness. Oriental rugs are threadbare.

The Galamin video was published a day before Israel’s state comptroller was set to issue a report on an investigation into allegations of excessive spending and misappropriation of state funds by Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, at the official Prime Minister’s Residence in the well-guarded house on Jerusalem’s Smolenskin Street.

Netanyahu’s opponents slammed the Galamin clip as an electioneering stunt, and said the video would not distract the public from the allegations of excessive spending and misappropriation of state funds.

Renee Ghert-Zand contributed to this report.