Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
News

The Secret History of BiBi-8

As “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” continues to rack up historic box office grosses, director JJ Abrams has confirmed a theory floating around internet forums and the Israeli Foreign Ministry — that the lovable, squeaky droid “BB-8” was inspired by the unlovable Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu.

“Both Bibi and BB take stands against fearful weapons of mass destruction, both are forced to work with an African American they distrust, and both have a shiny round dome atop their head.”

Abrams told the Backward that the idea came to him after George Lucas revealed that the character of Han Solo had been based on Menachem Begin.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.