New York got a glimpse on Tuesday of Benjamin Netanyahu’s massive security detail, when the prime minister answered the call of nature accompanied by 20 guards.
Netanyahu went out for dinner with his wife, Sara, at the Harry Cipriani restaurant, one of the city’s swankiest. Before his arrival, the joint was scoped out by 20 security guards, and then when the prime minister himself arrived he was accompanied by another 20 agents, the New York Post reported.
The restaurant only seats about 100, so Netanyahu’s entourage took up a lot of space — not to mention the other guards placed discreetly and not so discreetly around the venue, both inside and out.
Sara and Bibi’s quiet dinner was interrupted when the premier needed to take a bathroom break. The toilet was a few feet away in the adjacent Sherry-Netherland Hotel, and, aware of the risks of peeing alone, his-ever vigilant security detail knew the drill.
“Around 20 security guards got up with Bibi and a few went into the bathroom with him. One watched the door, and the rest lined up with their arms up to form a human barricade, so nobody could enter the bathroom or even get close,” a bystander told the Post. “He must be the most protected man in the world right now.”
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Celebrity diners treated to the routine included Charlie Rose, billionaire Ronald Perelman, Barbara Winston, Jason Binn and Iris Apfel.
Netanyahu is in New York to address the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday — his eighth speech at the annual plenary session.
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