Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Trump Avoided Knesset Speech Because Of Possible Heckling

President Trump’s main speech during his visit to Israel took place on Tuesday at the Israel Museum, rather than the Knesset, the parliamentary building where foreign dignitaries usually speak. One possible reason, according to the Speaker of the Knesset: The Israelis couldn’t guarantee that he wouldn’t be interrupted by heckling lawmakers.

As Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein revealed in a tweet on Tuesday: “The topic of Trump’s speech at the Knesset emerged as a first option in discussion but it was made clear to the president’s staff that it was not possible to guarantee a speech without interruptions, and that is how it fell off the agenda. Sad!”

Edelstein made similar remarks in front of a nearly-empty Knesset on Tuesday, according to the Times of Israel: “Due to six or seven [Members of Knesset] for whom 20 seconds’ fame is more important to them than the status of the Knesset, the plenary is empty today.”

Prime Minister Stephen Harper was heckled by MKs from the majority-Arab party Joint List when he addressed the Knesset in 2014.

The Knesset is known for hosting particularly raucous debates, with members often yelling at each other and at guests who testify to committees.

Contact Aiden Pink at [email protected] or on Twitter, @aidenpink.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.