President Isaac Herzog canceled plans to attend a major rabbinical ordination ceremony in New York next week, with his office citing a heavy travel schedule and the sensitive regional situation.
The ceremony is set to be held Tuesday at the Jewish Theological Seminary, the flagship institution of Conservative Judaism’s rabbinical training movement.
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President Isaac Herzog and US President Donald Trump
(Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
A person familiar with the planning said the cancellation was linked to concerns that U.S. President Donald Trump could embarrass Herzog over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s request for a pardon. Herzog’s office denied the claim.
According to the person, officials around Herzog feared Trump could seek to detain him, delay him or summon him to a meeting to pressure him to grant Netanyahu a pardon.
Herzog’s trip to the New York event had been arranged about a year ago, the person said. Herzog’s office had hoped Trump’s possible visit to Israel for Independence Day would help ease tensions between the two leaders. Trump ultimately canceled that visit, leaving Herzog’s office to decide whether to proceed with the New York trip.
The decision to cancel the U.S. trip was made about a month ago, and Herzog recorded a video address for the New York ceremony three weeks ago, the person said.
Herzog’s office called the report “fake news.”
“It never happened and was never created,” the President’s Residence said in a statement. “Anyone publishing this is spreading a lie and risks defamation.”
The office said the reporter had been told several weeks ago, when the invitation was publicized, that the trip would not take place.
“The report is so wrong that it completely ignores the fact that the president is expected to travel to visit communities in the United States in the coming months,” the statement said. “Due to the heavy travel schedule and in light of the sensitive situation in the region, it was decided to decline the invitation.”
Herzog’s office pointed to his recent trips to Kazakhstan, Panama and Costa Rica as part of the reason for the cancellation.