From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Picture of Likud minister in Athens tavern during war sparks condemnation
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Regional Cooperation Minister David Amsalem is photographed at a tavern in Athens this week, sparking social media criticism over his foreign travel during wartime.
A photograph of the senior Likud politician shows him sitting and chatting at an outdoor table as people drink and smoke around him.
“Female soldiers are being abused in the tunnels, soldiers are being killed at the front, the refugees… are stuck without a home [and] the minister is celebrating at a tavern in Athens,” tweets Haaretz journalist Amir Tibon, a resident of Gaza border Kibbutz Nahal Oz. “Dudi Amsalem is the face of the October 7 government.”
Last December, Amsalem made headlines when he reportedly complained that IDF chief of staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi was absent from a government meeting.
A spokesman for Amsalem said it was a personal trip and not a vacation.
בזמן המלחמה: ח״כ דודי אמסלם תועד מבלה בטברנה יוונית באתונה pic.twitter.com/0sUUkgJn8c
— ישראל היום (@IsraelHayomHeb) March 19, 2024
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