Netanyahu’s Secret To Getting ‘Hamilton’ Tickets: Family Connections
The face of a man who’s seen the hit musical ‘Hamilton’ Image by Getty Images
Say what you will about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but remember this: He’s got a thick head of silver, a voice like an Israeli Sam Elliott, and a twinkle in his eye so gleaming it could throw off the start of havdalah. The man’s a charmer. And like all lovable operators, he has the weird “Hamilton” anecdote to prove it.
Political affiliation aside, we can’t help but tip our kippot to his chutzpah. Sure, he’s a tough-talking powerbroker who was recently questioned by his own state’s investigators about corruption for the 12th time, but he’s our tough-talking powerbroker who was recently questioned by his own state’s investigators about corruption for the 12th time!
Regaling the Jewish Federation of North America’s General Assembly in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, our Bibi returned to one of his favorite topics: the hit Broadway musical “Hamilton.” The Prime Minister and his wife Sara Netanyahu caught the blockbuster hip-hop show in September 2016 and were greeted loudly, the JTA reports, by both boos and applause plus, reportedly, two women who were taken from the theater after shouting “Free Palestine” (again, politics aside — you have to feel pretty strongly about an issue to lose your “Hamilton” tickets over it when you’re already in the theater). The PM has been vocal about his love of the musical, and told the crowd at the JFNAGA, per Reuters reporter Dan Williams, “How did I get tickets? Because my cousin’s wife works in the production – that’s how.”
Oh, Bibi! We love how committed he is to his own brand. In one comment he bragged, referenced his connections, implied that all of Israel is responsible for one another, suggested that he is a man of the people rather than a VIP macher, and displayed the sass of a teenage girl.
That’s our Prime Minister! He is never, ever one to throw away his shot.
Jenny Singer is the deputy lifestyle editor for the Forward. You can reach her at Singer@forward.com or on Twitter @jeanvaljenny
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.
If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.
Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
