The great-grandchild of Alfred Dreyfus has expressed outrage at the comparison some supporters of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, including his son, have drawn between the premier’s corruption trial and the anti-Semitic show trial of her ancestor at the turn of the 20th century.
On Sunday, the day Netanyahu’s trial opened at the Jerusalem District Court, his son Yair tweeted: “Today the Dreyfus trial begins!” Later at a rally in support of the prime minister, some demonstrators held placards and wore face masks comparing the two trials as well.
Yael Perl-Ruiz told i24 News earlier today she was “horrified” by the comparison. “As far as historical facts are concerned there is no place to compare the Dreyfus affair and what is happening in Israel,” she said.
Alfred Dreyfus in the Villemarie Garden, Carpentras 1899-1900. (Dreyfus Family Collection)
She said collating the two trials “cheapens the symbolic significance” of the Dreyfus affair.
She added that she loves Israel and is “very worried” about the divisions in Israeli society and a crisis of values “that are not the moral values of those who established the state.”
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Tuesday, May 26, 2020
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