Israeli reservists are outraged as Yair remains in Miami to sort out aid for troops.

The 32-year-old son of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been skipping the conflict against Hamas, although he is bound to military service during the wartime.

The premier, whom an overwhelming majority of Israelis want to assume responsibility for the failure to prevent the 7 October attack, is now criticized for the decision of his offspring to stay in the United States while tens of thousands of Jews from around the world travel to Israel to join the army.

Yair Netanyahu arrived in the U.S. last April, after his father told him to stop posting inflammatory remarks on social media and stay away from media attention, according to Israeli media.

At least 360 reservists have been called up and many of them left everything behind in order to fly to Israel, with news reports counting volunteers who abandoned their vacations and jobs abroad.

“Yair is enjoying his life at Miami Beach while I'm on the front lines. It's us who are leaving our work, our families, our kids, to protect our families back home and the country, not the people who are responsible for this situation. […] It does not help build trust in the leadership of the country,” a soldier serving on Israel's northern front, told The Times. 

Yair Netanyahu studied theatre at high school and was drafted for compulsory military service when he turned 18, working in the unit of the army’s spokesman rather than training as a combat soldier.

Military service is compulsory for the majority of Israelis. Men have to serve 32 months and women 24. After this, most of them can be called up to reserve units until the age of 40, or even older, in case of national emergency, and they fight alongside the regular troops in times of war.

Reservists, however, are also used in non-combat roles, which means that Yair's lack of fighting experience does not automatically exempt him from rejoining the armed forces.

Instead of flying back to Israel, the premier’s son uses his Instagram profile to commemorate the victims of this war and raise awareness for charity. He was also spotted gathering and sorting out American aid in Florida for Israelis.

At home, Yair Netanyahu was sued several times for defamation and was ordered to pay substantial money to journalists and politicians for publishing false information and misquoting them from his social media accounts.

Facebook banned him for right-wing hate speech in 2018, and a year earlier the then 26-year Yair published antisemitic and anti-Muslim remarks, which prompted his father to react. 

His father, too, has had legal problems: the senior Netanyahu has been officially charged with corruption and at the time of the Hamas attack he was expecting to be suspended from office.

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