Cabinet secretary: Netanyahu didn’t know that US-Iran talks would start on Shabbat

9 April 2025, 8:33 pm 7 Edit

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leads a cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem alongside cabinet secretary Yossi Fuchs, on July 30, 2023. (Marc Israel Sellem/Pool/Flash90)

Cabinet secretary Yossi Fuchs acknowledges that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was caught off guard by US President Donald Trump’s announcement during their Oval Office meeting that the United States will hold direct nuclear talks with Iran this weekend.

Speaking with the Kol Berama radio station, Fuchs insists Netanyahu knew in advance about the planned US negotiations with Iran, but “he did not know the talks will take place on Shabbat.”

“There is a close connection between the president and the prime minister. The president’s team competes over who loves Israel the most,” says Fuchs.