According to a report in the Maariv newspaper, former premier Benjamin Netanyahu is refusing to return gifts he was given during his tenure as Prime Minister, despite a request to do so from the current Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett.
Maariv claims that Netanyahu is legally required to return a total of 42 gifts – and that Netanyahu’s aide now claims that many of the gifts have been “lost” and cannot be located.
Shlomit Barnea, a legal advisor to the Prime Minister’s Office, then wrote to Netanyahu, asking for at least 27 of the gifts that have not been lost. These include a copy of the Tanach (Hebrew Bible) with the commentary of the early commentary Rashi, which was given to Netanyahu by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Also among the items being claimed is a copy of the documents ordering the transfer of the US Embassy to Jerusalem, signed by former US President Donald Trump.
“At the conclusion of your term as Prime Minister you were supposed to return all of the gifts you received during your term … in the condition in which they were given, barring reasonable wear and tear due to the passage of time,” Barnea reportedly wrote.