Ilan Garpel with Benjamin Netanyahu after his release. Garpel was being held by Egypt, on suspicions of being a spy for Israel. Photo: wiki commons.

Although Israeli Independence Day isn’t until later this week (April 26th), the country’s Prime Minister decided to make a Zionist purchase on Monday, stepping out of his car in Jerusalem to buy an Israeli flag from a street vendor, Israel’s Channel 2 reports.

“You are doing very important work,” Netanyahu told the seller, “helping to paint the country blue and white. I only have one small request of you – take care of yourself, stand on the sidewalk and off the road.”

Netanyahu’s security team dismounted from their vehicles, alarming some residents in the area who thought the vendor’s case of flags may have been a harmful device.

“We were startled at the sight of armed guards.  We saw a case on the ground and thought it was a suspicious object, but in the end it turned out to be the case of the seller, and all the chaos and traffic jams were caused by the prime minister,” a witness said.