The Dec. 1 response from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office to outrage over the scandalous household expenses of the premier and his wife Sara was so insensitive and tactless that even the most cynical political correspondents were left dumbfounded.

The general sense was that this time, someone had really gone too far. That there are some things you just do not do, even when the public turns against you. That all good sense and shame was lost, just for the sake of gaining a few more points with the public.

Netanyahu and his advisers certainly thought that they were making a brilliant move when they pulled out of their archives statements made by late Israeli singer Arik Einstein in a flash of empathy toward Netanyahu in 1998, during his first term as prime minister. However, the instrumental and ugly use of statements taken from another time, during a period of national mourning, had the exact opposite effect.

“We would like to open our response by quoting the late Arik Einstein,” began the prime minister’s official response. It quoted the singer, who had passed away just five days earlier, as saying, “They do horrible injustice toward Prime Minister Netanyahu. They abuse him, and I’m simply shocked at the force of the disrespect and hatred shown to him. To what degree can they continue to suck his blood?”