Politicians have always looked for places where politics does not look like politics. They are photographed in their kitchens, at diners and county fairs, walking through the shuk, buying at a falafel counter. The setting varies and the purpose does not. A politician usually seen behind a lectern appears where ordinary life is already underway, and the picture says what a speech cannot: this is one of us. Netanyahu’s appearance at Eden Ben Zaken’s concert last week began inside that tradition and ended somewhere else, with a crowd’s own recovery entered as evidence in a case about the prime minister.

The genre exists because belonging cannot be argued. A record can be defended and a policy can be explained, but no one has ever been talked into feeling that a politician is one of them. It has to be shown. And it works even though everyone knows the visit was scheduled and the photographers were placed.

It would be easy to file this under campaign photography. An election is beginning and a full arena offers cameras. But something less familiar was going on. In a few sentences, Netanyahu took an achievement that belonged to the people in that hall and moved it into the arena where prime ministers are judged.

Ben Zaken is one of Israel’s most popular singers, and thousands had bought tickets to see her at Menora Mivtachim Arena. There were no party banners and no political speeches on the program. Then Netanyahu was handed a microphone. “Do you know what you are........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)