Netanyahu uses foreign ambassadors to boost election campaign

Seventy foreign ambassadors to Israel have expressed their anger over a meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister in which they feel that they were used to boost his election campaign, the Israeli daily Maariv has reported.

The newspaper said that the ambassadors were invited for a meeting to discuss the situation on the Gaza and Syrian borders with Israel and the possibility of the Zionist state launching a massive military offensive against the Gaza Strip. However, the meeting was used for election purposes by Benjamin Netanyahu. According to Maariv, the ambassadors, who were kept waiting by the Prime Minister, felt that he showed no respect for their positions.

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“The meeting lasted one hour although Netanyahu’s speech was only five minutes and he answered only six questions,” ambassadors told the newspaper. They were then “invited” to watch a film about Netanyahu’s election campaign.

Ambassadors expected to meet Netanyahu behind closed doors in order to get a message to pass on to their own governments. The meeting, though, was attended by settlers from Sderot, Netivot and Ashkelon. They spoke about their difficult life “under the rockets from Gaza”.

“This is part of our work,” one ambassador told Maariv, “but we have been exploited for about half a day without any real benefit.”
Commenting on the complaints, Netanyahu’s office passed on his apologies for his late arrival, due to pressure of work.