When Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman learned that Minister of Industry & Trade Binyamin Ben-Eliezer met in Europe with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, a meeting approved by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, he was angered over the fact that he was ignored and the ministry was circumvented. Lieberman is not about to permit this diplomatic insult pass, announcing he is demanding an inquiry into the fact that a cabinet minister held a high-level meeting with a Turkish official abroad without his ministry’s prior knowledge or approval.

He told the media that such a move undermines the trust and working relationship between his office and the prime minister. Making things worse is the fact that Defense Minister Ehud Barak was also informed of the meeting in advance, giving his approval, but the two senior officials decided to keep the foreign minister in the dark. Netanyahu explains that Ben-Eliezer informed him that Davutoglu requested an unofficial meeting with him, with aides seeking to stress the Prime Minister’s Office works in total harmony with the Foreign Ministry.

The Prime Minister’s Office is trying to make it appear that the events as they transpired were simply an oversight, but Lieberman is not buying it and he plans to demand answers into unacceptable actions that represent a major deviation from protocol.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)