Netanyahu apologizes to Ban Ki-moon for leaking their phone conversation

Details emerged Monday of how Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attempted to recover from a faux pas that embarrassed and angered UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon last August.

According to a report in Haaretz, Netanyahu apologized to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon for leaking the details of a telephone conversation between the two.

On August 10 Netanyahu telephoned Ban and urged him not to travel to a Non-Aligned Movement summit in Tehran.

In a statement he made after the phone call, Netanyahu revealed details of the conversation and said that he told Ban that his visit to Iran would be “a major mistake.”

The release of that statement, without first coordinating with the secretary-general, infuriated Ban. When Netanyahu realized the damage he had done, he called Ban to apologize, Haaretz said.

Although the prime minister told Ban he regretted making the public statement he did not retract his comments or his view that Tehran should be out-of-bounds.

Ban went ahead with his planned visit to Tehran. Once there, he gave a speech at the conference strongly condemning Iran’s anti-Israel rhetoric. Following the conference Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak both spoke to Ban to further smooth over the earlier spat.

Netanyahu and Ban are scheduled to meet later this week following the prime minister’s address at a UN General Assembly meeting in New York.