Amitabh Bachchan, Karan Johar and other Bollywood stars met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who attended the Shalom Bollywood event in Mumbai yesterday. Not only did PM Netanyahu attended the much-anticipated Bollywood event last night but he also called all the Bollywood stars to join together for a selfie - which was shared by him on his official Twitter handle. In the selfie, which is now viral, PM Netanyahu was joined in by stars like Big B, Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan, Vivek Oberoi and Madhur Bhandarkar among others. In his speech, PM Netanyahu referred to one of the most viral pictures of all time that took place at the Oscars, in which several celebrities including Brad Pitt took a selfie.
Will my Bollywood selfie beat @TheEllenShow Hollywood selfie at the Oscars? @SrBachchan @juniorbachchan @rajcheerfull @imbhandarkar @vivek_oberoi @ pic.twitter.com/v1r0GIhKLy— Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) January 18, 2018
His tweet was "hearted" over 54,000 times.
Naturally, the Palestinian Authority and BDS movement are spitting mad over this.
From Wafa, the official news agency of the Palestinian Authority, in English:
The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS) in South Asia and other pro-Palestinian activists have slammed some Bollywood actors, actresses and figures for welcoming and embracing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his visit to India.You almost have to feel sorry for the BDSers who cannot stand the idea of Israel being portrayed as anything other than evil incarnate in any media woridwide.
Speaking to the Middle East Eye, Apoorva Gautam, head of the BDS movement in South Asia, expressed disappointment in Bollywood for falling for Israel’s “cultural propaganda”
“These initiatives are ultimately part of a wider move by the Israelis to improve its image globally as it continues to perpetrate war crimes against the Palestinians,” he said.
Almost.