Israeli PM orders ministers to attend Trump reception, as they plan to give it a miss

The event is to take place after Trump's arrival in Israel today, following his departure from Saudi Arabia. The US President is on his first international trip since taking office.

US President Donald Trump's visit to Israel has given its Prime Minister a headache he would not have expected. The President is set to visit the country on Monday and is to be given a reception at the airport.

Unlike other major events where people usually line up to attend and it is difficult to keep them out, this particular reception seemed to be having the opposite problem.

According to reports, senior ministers and other state officials of Israel were planning to give the event a miss, as they were allegedly miffed after finding out about the cold shoulder treatment that they were set to get at the event.

As soon as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu got wind of such plans, he passed orders making their presence at the event mandatory. This though was preceded by the prime minister losing his cool and dismissing the cabinet meeting in a rage according to reports.

It was during a Sunday meeting of coalition heads that Netanyahu is said to have been told about the decision of senior leaders to give the event a miss and that this would lead to sparse attendance as heads of most political parties would not participate.

Following this, prime minister's bureau issued an instruction to all government ministers telling them that they must participate in the reception to be held on Monday at the Ben-Gurion International Airport.

According to reports, Trump's visit and the events during it, especially the airport reception have seen many changes during the last two weeks. The initial plans were for a long ceremony to take place which would include speeches and have the presence of all cabinet ministers and other senior officials who would welcome the President at the airport and shake hands with him.

But these plans had to change as the White House requested that the event be kept as short as possible and include only the playing of the national anthem of the two countries along with Trump shaking hands with the Israeli President, prime mister, and the speaker of the country's parliament, as well as a guard of honour.

These changes initially led to the ministers being disinvited from the reception, but this plan also soon changed by Saturday evening as they were informed that they were now invited, though with certain conditions. These included them to arrive at least two and a half hours before the start of the reception, to undergo security checks, and to view the ceremony from the sidelines with the initial handshakes planned with Trump cancelled.

The foreign ministry had told the ministers that their attendance for the event was not mandatory. And this is what led to most ministers deciding that they will not attend the function. Though following Netanyahu's order such a step does not seem possible anymore.

OneIndia News