Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s eldest son on Monday apologised for an “offensive tweet” after facing outrage from Indians. Yair Netanyahu, 29, had on Sunday posted a picture of Hindu goddess Durga, with the face of the prosecutor in his father’s corruption cases superimposed on it.

“I’ve tweeted a meme from a satirical page, critizing political figures in Israel,” he tweeted on Monday. “I didn’t realize the meme also portrayed an image conected to the majestic Hindu faith. As soon as I realized it from comments of our Indian friends, I have removed the tweet. I apologize.”

In his Sunday’s tweet, while prosecutor Liat Ben Ari’s face was superimposed on Durga, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit’s face was superimposed on that of a tiger accompanying the goddess. The meme was captioned: “Know your place you despicable people”.

Yair Netanyahu is known for triggering controversies, particularly on social media. Earlier this month, he apologised to a journalist for appearing to suggest that the top news anchor had attained her position through sexual favours. This came after the journalist threatened to sue him for defamation. The prime minister had also shared his son’s apology.

Prime Minister Netanyahu is charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust in separate cases. The trial, which began in May, is still going on, reported The Times of Israel. He has claimed the charges were false and politically motivated, and called them an “attempt to stage a coup against the prime minister”.

Prime Minister Netanyahu has made strengthening Israel’s ties with India one of his key foreign policy goals. In 2017, Prime Minister Narendra Modi became the first Indian head of government to visit Israel. Netanyahu had called Modi a revolutionary who is changing India and catapulting it to the future when the former visited India in 2018.

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