Police respond to report of dead body in car, discover wax figure of Benjamin Netanyahu in Oslo

Authorities intervened and smashed the car window of a local artist, Morten Viskum, after a concerned caller reported what they believed to be a dead person inside the vehicle. The police responded promptly to the Majorstua area, only to discover that the “body” was actually a lifelike wax figure of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which Viskum intended to showcase at an upcoming art fair in Copenhagen.

Each year, Viskum creates a new wax self-portrait, previously embodying figures like Donald Trump and Putin to provoke discussions about various societal themes. On this occasion, he had placed the sculpture in the driver’s seat of his car while he was at home scrolling through his phone.

When he heard his car alarm, Viskum stepped onto his balcony to find several police cars and officers surrounding his vehicle. “It was so absurd that I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry,” he recounted, adding that it should have been clear to the police that the figure was not real.

Viskum acknowledged that while it may seem odd to have a figurine of a political figure in a car, he understood why bystanders found the situation suspicious. After explaining the situation to the officers, they left, and Viskum felt a mixture of concern over potential damage and relief that his sculpture remained intact.

The artist ultimately traveled to Denmark the next day with Netanyahu in tow, humorously noting he will be much more cautious about leaving his car unattended following the incident.