While his tardy arrival at the Sunday morning weekly cabinet meeting will not change the course of world events, or event make international news, it did indeed cause a media stir in Israel.

It began on Sunday morning when Galei Tzahal (Army Radio) reported Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was not going to attend the weekly cabinet meeting, an extremely rare event if the prime minister is in Israel. Reporters received pager notification of this event, an “official notification from the Prime Minister’s Office” as it was reported, which later was learned to be anything less than official, but from a “reliable source” who later was learned to be less than reliable.

A short time later, Galei Tzahal’s Razi Barkai reported that additional information obtained from citizens stated that the prime minister’s convoy was seen leaving the city, adding to the cloud of mystery surrounding his decision to hand the meeting over to Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya’alon. The news led to much speculation, leading to theories as to what exactly was taking place behind the scenes that warranted the prime minister missing a cabinet meeting. One of the theories being reported was Mr. Netanyahu was on his way to an unspecified country for secret meetings.

Not too long afterward, Galei Tzahal admitted, with some embarrassment, that the prime minister arrived at the weekly meeting, albeit ten minutes late. No reason was given.

Later in the morning the mystery was solved. Galei Tzahal reported the prime minister awakened with a foreign body in an eye, compelling treatment from his personal physician, who removed the foreign particle, thereby permitting Mr. Netanyahu to continue with his schedule, running a bit late.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)