Lieberman with French Foreign Minister Kouchner
Photo: AP
Netanyahu. Embarrassment in Jerusalem
Photo: AFP
PM fails to update FM about Sarkozy's remarks
Ynet inquiry reveals Netanyahu's office instructed all participants in meeting with French president not to inform anyone of its content. Even Lieberman, who was slammed by Sarkozy during meeting, was unaware of demand to replace him
Lieberman surprised by Sarkozy's harsh criticism: Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman
was unaware of the harsh remarks
made against him made by Nicolas Sarkozy during the French president's meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
in Paris last week.
A Ynet inquiry revealed that the Prime Minister's Office instructed all Israeli officials who took part in the meeting with Sarkozy not to disclose its content to anyone, excluding competent authorities at Netanyahu's office.
The Israeli ambassador to France, who took part in the meeting, did not inform the minister in charge of him of the criticism. Two other senior officials who were present at the meeting and did not disclose its content were Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz and Environment Protection Minister Gilad Erdan.
International Relations
Tal Rabinovsky
Former Israeli ambassador to Paris says French president's harsh remarks against Foreign Minister Lieberman during meeting with PM Netanyahu were 'an inappropriate interference in the internal affairs of a friendly country'
According to reports released Monday, the French president harshly criticized Lieberman during the meeting and told Netanyahu, "You should get rid of that man. Remove him and bring in (former Foreign Minister Tzipi) Livni. With her and with (Defense Minister Ehud) Barak you can make history.
"I have always accepted Israeli foreign ministers, and I loved to have Tzipi Livni here at the Elysée, but with (Lieberman) I can't," he was reported as saying with a wave of his hand.
Five days after the usual remark was made, none of the meeting's attendees - Ministers Steinitz and Erdan, Knesset Member Daniel Ben Simon (Labor), Israeli Ambassador Daniel Shek and National Security Advisor Uzi Arad – bothered to inform Minister Lieberman about it.
Conversations held Tuesday morning revealed that the foreign minister was unhappy with this conduct.
The instruction not to disclose the meeting's details did not necessarily stem from the remarks made against Lieberman, but rather for fear of leaks, as happened following Netanyahu's meeting with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in Rome the day before.
For that reason, one copy of the document summarizing the meeting with Sarkozy was entrusted to a senior state official at the Prime Minister's Office.
Lieberman: It's not interesting
Netanyahu's media advisor refused to comment on the silencing of the system."We don't refer to conversations with world leaders, as well as routine talks held on a permanent basis between the prime minister and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman," spokesman Nir Hefetz told Ynet. "All we can say is that the prime minister has a lot of appreciation for Minister Lieberman."
In conversations held with the Israeli ambassador to Paris on Monday night, Daniel Shek clarified that he did not report to the Foreign Ministry and to Lieberman due to the PM's Office instruction.
Shek, an experienced and professional diplomat, found himself in a very embarrassing situation following the Channel 2 report, forced to explain to the Foreign Ministry and to Lieberman's office why he had failed to report such a significant matter to the minister in charge.
Active diplomats at the Foreign Ministry told Ynet that Netanyahu's men should have been informed that they must solve the problem with the foreign minister's office, or at least pick up the phone and update the minister.
In any event, at this stage Lieberman is choosing to ignore Sarkozy's harsh remarks.
"Everything is wonderful," he said to those who asked him about the affair on Tuesday morning. "It's not interesting, apart from the fact that I am now included among world leaders like (US President) Barack Obama, Angela Merkel of Germany and the Spanish prime minister, all of whom have been the focus of Sarkozy's remarks."
It appears that the Foreign Ministry has no plan to file an official complaint over the matter. Lieberman's office will hold its own internal inquiry, particularly in light of the fact that the foreign minister was not briefed by the prime minister, his colleagues at the government table and other officials.
At this stage, Ynet has learned, the office has no intention of taking measures against Ambassador Shek.
