Wife of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wearing a lacy transparent dress at the 19th Knesset swearing-in ceremony outraged Israelis.
Netanyahu’s wife, Sarah, had her dress, which had transparent lace exposing her arms, shoulders and stomach, criticized both by conservative as well as secular Israelis. Israelis considered her dress as inappropriate to be worn at the Knesset or any formal occasion.
“So keeping all of that in mind, I ask, along with rest of the state of Israel: What in the world was Sara Netanyahu thinking when she got dressed Tuesday?” one article published in the Israel-based newspaper, Haartez, read.
In another newspaper, Times of Israeli, one fashion commentator said that Mrs. Netanyahu looked like an advertisement for the Michelin tire company, and suggested that her stylist and Stevie Wonder were siblings.
The commentator described the dress as “so cheap” and “so inappropriate.”
Another commentator, meanwhile, has advised Netanyahu to travel to the United States to buy some clothes for his wife.
Some Israeli fashion critics also compared Mrs. Netanyahu to other first ladies.
“She may not be a fashion icon like Michelle Obama or a supermodel political wife like former French leader Nicolas Sarkozy’s wife Carla Bruni,” the Haaretz said, adding “but she had nothing to be ashamed of when compared to Hillary Clinton, Laura or Barbara Bush, or any of her local predecessors in the role of First Lady.”
Ultra-Orthodox Jews said that Mrs. Netanyahu’s dress was “obscene” and that she was a “disgrace.”
According to the religious Israelis, Mrs. Netanyahu should have worn an appropriate dress for this occasion especially with the attendance of a number of rabbis, heads and members of religious parties.
