Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Australia, the first by a sitting Israeli prime minister, has been greeted with dismay by local traditionalists, The Kibbitzer’s Down Under correspondent reports.
“It’s traditional for criminals to arrive in Australia only after they’ve been convicted and sentenced,” sniffed Henrietta McPherson, one of a group of demonstrators outside Admiralty House in Sydney.
“The Israeli premier is only under investigation, which makes it totally improper for him to be here,” McPherson added. “We’re a proud criminal society and we don’t take kindly to upstarts and line-jumpers.”
Another demonstrator, Thomas Kelly, took issue with Netanyahu’s Armani suit. “It’s proper to arrive in Australia in rags and chains,” Kelly said. “What gives him the right to break with tradition?”
Our correspondent writes that Netanyahu caused some embarrassment during his reception by Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull when he tried to smoke a didgeridoo presented to him by an Aboriginal dancer.
“We’ve only just decriminalized the stuff back home and I’m still trying to figure out how it’s done,” a red-faced Netanyahu explained.