Joshua Cohen’s The Netanyahus: An Account Of A Minor And Ultimately Even Negligible Episode In The History Of A Very Famous Family is a hilarious book loosely based on the true story of Benjamin Netanyahu’s father BenZion, a history professor and the father of three sons, including Bibi. The novel’s protagonist is a Jewish historian in a ’50s small town who is trying to reconcile his identity as – and conflicting feelings about – being an American and a Jew. What we now call micro aggressions abound in this small college town, and our protagonist is asked to bear them.
After hearing the news that the real Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife were infamous for bringing their dirty laundry to be cleaned to the US when they traveled on official business, I was not surprised to see how the family is depicted in the book. The clan is obnoxiously hilarious – a parody of the worst guests.
But Cohen’s themes are deeper than his humor: What does it mean to be a Jew in the United States? And how much prejudice can a person tolerate in order to fit in without losing himself?