The Prime Minister's Office to the White House: The visit of the head of the Mossad is not a Netanyahu-style exercise

Israel informed the White House that Lapid had a clarification conversation with the head of the Mossad after the criticism he leveled at the Biden administration and emphasized that his visit and participation in the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing will not be conducted in the style of his media briefings last week.

The White House for Walla: Looking forward to meetings with the head of the Mossad

Barak Ravid

08/28/2022

Sunday, August 28, 2022, 7:38 p.m. Updated: 7:51 p.m.

• Share on Facebook

• Share on WhatsApp

• Share on Twitter

• Share by email

• Share in general

• Comments

  Comments

In the video: Lapid refers to the nuclear agreement with Iran (Photo: Leam)

The Prime Minister's Office clarified to the White House today (Sunday) that Mossad head Dedi Barnea's visit to Washington next week and the briefing he intends to hold for the US Senate Intelligence Committee on the nuclear deal is not an "exercise" and is not intended to interfere in American politics, senior Israeli officials said.

More in Walla!

• Prime Minister Lapid's office was surprised by the Mossad head's attack on the Biden administration and demanded clarification

• "The head of the Mossad suspected that Shmarit Meir was the leaker";

  Bennett: "Gossip of disgruntled advisers"

• Do not settle for an unsatisfactory sex life: this is how you will improve performance - with an exclusive discount

The visit of the head of the Mossad, not an "exercise" to interfere in American politics (Photo: Reuven Castro)

why is it important:

Prime Minister Lapid and his advisers want to avoid in any way a deterioration to the dynamics that occurred in 2015 when the dispute between the Netanyahu government and the Obama administration regarding the nuclear deal created an acute crisis in relations that lasted until the end of Obama's term, sabotaged relations between Israel and the Democratic Party and affected many aspects of the relationship between the countries.

More in Walla!

After the clarification call: the head of the Mossad will go to Washington to brief Congress against the nuclear deal

To the full article

They want to avoid a deterioration to the dynamics of 2015, which created a crisis between the leaders (Photo: Government Press Office, Kobi Gideon)

reminder:

• In March 2015, then Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to address the US Congress against the nuclear deal with Iran.

  The speech was the result of quiet contacts between Israel's ambassador to the United States at the time, Ron Dermer, and the then-Speaker of the House of Representatives from the Republican Party, John Boehner.

• The talks were conducted behind the back of the White House and Democratic President Barack Obama and his people saw the process as interference on Netanyahu's part in internal American politics.

  Nearly 50 Democratic members of Congress boycotted Netanyahu's speech as a sign of protest.

Lapid has a clarification conversation with Barnea ahead of the visit (Photo: Reuven Castro)

Behind the Scenes:

• Senior officials in the Biden administration read the statements of the head of the Mossad, Dedi Barnea, in the briefings he held with reporters last Thursday, in which he criticized the Biden administration.

  A senior American administration official told Walla that Barnea's words were "exaggerated".

• The Americans, who knew about Barnea's planned visit to Washington, expressed astonishment at the content of the words and their timing.

  Senior Israeli officials stated that in response, Israel informed the White House that Prime Minister Lapid had a clarification conversation with Barna and that his visit would not be in the style of media briefings last week.

• Israel updated the White House on the contents of the visit of the head of the Mossad and his intention to participate in the discussion of the American Senate's intelligence committee that will deal with the nuclear agreement.

  The Israeli message to the White House was that there was no intention of acting behind the back of the American administration in Congress and that the intention was to act with complete transparency.

• "We told them there was no intention of doing exercises in the style of Netanyahu," said a senior Israeli official.

What they say:

A spokesman for the National Security Council in the White House told Walla: "The head of the Mossad, David Barnea, was scheduled a long time ago for a visit to Washington in early September. We are waiting for the consultations we will hold with him, as we hold with other senior Israeli officials."

• news

• Political-political

• Foreign relations

Tags

• the institution

• United States

• Yair Lapid