Did Michelle Obama Snub Sara Netanyahu?
Today’s papers are full of photos of First Lady Michelle Obama in New York, rubbing shoulders with the rich and powerful at the reopening yesterday of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s American wing and at last night’s gala for the American Ballet Theatre. But Mrs. O’s New York trip left Sara Netanyahu — in Washington with her husband Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, both pictured below — without a meet-and-greet with the First Lady.
While many in the Israeli press saw the crossed paths as a snub, Israeli television personality Meirav Michaeli, writing in Haaretz, urged Mrs. Netanyahu not to waste her energy feeling hurt:
Dear Sara, at the beginning of your husband’s first term you were involved in various activities; you were the chairwoman of Yad BeYad (Hand in Hand) for children in distress, and honorary president of Tsad Kadima (A Step Forward) for children who suffer from cerebral palsy. I also remember the tremendous energy and strong desire for action you showed when you answered our invitation to provide sponsorship for Ezrat Nashim’s major launching event for victims of sexual attacks. … I beg of you to take all that energy and talent and use your position to tell young women about the difficulties you experienced, to instill hope and bring about change.
Not that Mrs. Netanyahu, a child psychologist who works for the Jerusalem municipality (a job she has vowed to keep despite her husband’s prime ministership), seems to be letting the circumstances get her down. In lieu of a White House Tea, she met with child psychologists working for the city government in Washington, and her plans today include a visit the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!
