Benjamin Netanyahu Forbids Israeli Ministers From Reaching Out to Team Trump
JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has forbidden all government ministers from contacting the new administration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.
A letter distributed to all cabinet members on Monday instructed government ministers to request permission to make contact through the Prime Minister’s Office or the Israeli Embassy in Washington. The letter was first reported by the Hebrew-language Walla news website.
“I would like to inform you that by the directive of the prime minister, the ministers and deputy ministers are required to not make any contact with the incoming U.S. administration, other than through the Prime Minister’s Office or the Israeli Embassy in Washington,” read the letter signed by Cabinet Secretary Tzachi Braverman. “I would be thankful for the immediate compliance with the prime minister’s said directive.”
Haaretz reported, citing an unnamed senior official in Jerusalem, that the letter comes after “an attempt by some unauthorized persons to meet with senior members in the new administration.”
The newspaper identified Naftali Bennett, Israel’s education minister and head of the Jewish Home party, who had planned to see Trump’s chief White House strategist Stephen Bannon at a dinner in New York, and Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel of the Jewish Home party, who sent a congratulatory letter to Bannon that was published on the Breitbart news website, which Bannon used to helm.
Last week, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Ron Dermer met with the president-elect and his senior advisors at Trump Tower in New York.
Immediately following Trump’s election, Netanyahu cautioned members of his government to stop publicly discussing the results.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
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.
