Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara will fly to Washington on a separate plane from the Israeli delegation that will arrive at the White House next week to sign the historic peace agreement with the United Arab Emirates. The Prime Minister and his wife will also be joined by their two children, Yair and Avner.
The Netanyahus are afraid of contracting the coronavirus and therefore will not take off with the entire entourage and diplomatic staff.
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Prime Minister Shir Cohen's spokeswoman said this evening (Thursday) that the Prime Minister and his wife Sara will take off on a separate plane to Washington, due to concerns that they may be infected with the coronavirus.
""Due to concerns that the Prime Minister will contract the coronavirus on a flight with over 70 people, professional officials have instructed that the Prime Minister fly to the US on a separate plane that the State of Israel uses from time to time," Cohen said.
Dana Weiss, the political correspondent for News 12, tweeted on her Twitter account: "Going beyond my custom and tweeting. There is a limit. A private plane at our expense to get to a ceremony in the presence of foreign ministers. When the entire country is under lockdown. If there were missiles over the south, they wouldn't be flying. And what will the rest of the delegation and journalists think? If it's not safe enough for Netanyahu "Is it safe for his wife or is their health less important?""
MK Bezalel Smotrich, on the other hand, supports the prime minister's demand to take off on a private plane: "Well, this is cheap demagogy. And I write this even though I am not a big supporter of the peace agreement with the UAE (due to its price in returning to the foolish discourse of two states vis-à-vis the Palestinians) and certainly not of Netanyahu's performance in the Corona crisis.".
""But Netanyahu flies in the service of the state, and keeping him healthy as prime minister is in our interest. He is not flying on a private trip. He is flying for us. Yes, for us. For the State of Israel.".
""His health is no more important than others' personally, as a private person, but as prime minister it is more important due to the need to keep him from getting sick and to be able to continue to function and manage the affairs of the state. This is our interest, not his. Enough with this eye trouble.".
He added: "I don't think the signing ceremony with the UAE is a big celebration at all. One can also argue whether it is right to postpone it in light of the serious health crisis we are in the midst of. But if it was decided to hold it and there is even one percent safer health-wise for the Prime Minister on a private plane, then that is what needs to be done. Everything else is demagogy.".
The signing ceremony for the peace agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates will be held this Tuesday, and the Israeli delegation will fly to Washington on an El Al plane.
The delegations to the ceremony will be headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Emirati Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed, brother of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed.
""I am proud to go to Washington next week, at the invitation of President Trump, and participate in the historic ceremony at the White House to establish the peace agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates," Netanyahu said.
