Universal Soldier – Part 2

It seems that King Bibi has got himself into another little furor today.

The hebrew Ynet News site is carrying the story tonight that the army base where Yair Netanyahu is undergoing his much discussed basic training is actually housed in a location in the south belonging to Military Intelligence.  As such, in view of the sensitive nature of the establishment, it tends to operate in a very discrete manner and has never before held an “Open Day” for the parents of its inductees.

Not until now that is!

Ynet reports that today, during only his third day of basic training, “Yair the Unfortunate” was able to welcome Israels royal couple to the first ever such event at the base.

OK, so King Bibi may have pulled a few strings in order for his grieving Queen Sara to go visit her baby.  What the hell, Bibi pulls stunts like that all the time and, for that matter, he is not the only member of the ruling elite to do so.

However, the story doesn’t stop there.  Just in case you missed it, this was only Yairs third day.  Now, whoever heard of any such event being held so quickly into basic training, anywhere? 

Well actually, there may just have been another private agenda coming into play here.  It turns out that the Base Commanders son just happens to have a Barmitzvah coming very soon.  And, it is reported that, at the end of the royal visit, the Base Commander in question whipped out his video camera and asked Bibi to offer a special Barmitzvah message. 

Bibi, never one to miss a photo op, immediately obliged while Sara somewhat grudgingly stood aside.

Seems like a fair trade, one (not so, as it turns out) private video message in exchange for a (first time ever) Open Day to visit Yair.

I wonder how long before the video finds its way onto Youtube?

Its not there yet, I looked, but I did find this somewhat approriate piece.  The parallels are really incredible.

Universal Soldier

Not to be outdone by their more illustrious European counterparts, the Israeli Royal family today waved goodbye to their eldest son as he entered the IDF for his military service.

In a planned three year IDF career which ensures that he will not to be overshadowed by the British princes William (a fully fledged SAR helicopter pilot) and Harry (pin up boy of the British Army in the Afghanistan conflict), Yair Netanyahu will undergo a fast track three weeks of basic training before joining the military spokesmans office.

As he consoled a tearful Queen Sara, King Bibi, himself an alumnii of an elite Israeli commando unit, was heard to mutter “Thats my boy!”

In Yairs defence, it should be noted that he is doing better than the son of Bibi’s predecessor who, it is said, made a hasty departure from “Eretz Israel” to avoid military service.

27 July 2009 – See Update: Universal Soldier #2