Costly cigars, sweets, an M16 rifle: PM’s office releases list of gifts officials received

The Prime Minister’s Office on Sunday released a full list of gifts given to public officials over the past eight years while fulfilling their governmental duties.

The list includes a full breakdown of  the gifts that officials received both in Israel and while abroad on diplomatic trips, with details about what each gift is, who gave it, who received it and its current location.

Spanning from 2017 to 2025, it was published at the behest of the economic fairness and anti-corruption lawyers’ NGO group “Success,” which filed a freedom of information request for the list two years ago.

As per Israeli law, the vast majority of gifts are now in the possession of the custodian, an agency within the Justice Ministry charged with storing state-owned assets. In most cases, save for items of negligible value, public servants are forbidden from holding onto items they receive as a present, as a measure against corruption.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was listed as a recipient more than a thousand times in the document. During his numerous years in office, he was gifted books, clothing items, as well as expensive cigars by diplomats and leaders familiar with his penchant for smokes.

The list includes chocolates in the likeness of Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, that the prime minister received in January 2017. Unlike most of the presents under the watch of the custodian, the chocolates were included in the so-called “state security” list alongside most other food and beverage items.

In 2018, the premier was gifted a portrait of himself when visited by Philippines’ President Rodrigo Duterte.

During a visit to Australia later that year, Netanyahu was bestowed with several intricate items of jewelry, including a gold bracelet with a pearl in a brown container, a golden flower brooch, a golden plate with floral decorations and an inscription as well as a brown leather briefcase in a blue container.

Among the items Netanyahu received that were listed as “not found” in the gift room at the Prime Minister’s Office were a gold-plated cigar cutter and porcelain ashtray he was gifted by Egypt’s intelligence minister in 2021, and plate decorated with a US flag.

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett, who served just over a year in office after replacing Netanyahu as premier in June 2021, appeared on the list as a recipient 193 times.

Bennett received an extravagant set of gifts from Bahrain’s king during his 2022 visit to the Gulf state, including a gold-plated thermos and cups, a silver-gilt sword and a jewelry box with gold decoration.

All the gifts Bennett received are stored in the gift room at the Prime Minister’s Office, save for a glass statue with an inscription, which he received while visiting officials in the IDF Special Operations Division.

Yair Lapid, who succeeded Bennett as prime minister for six months before Netanyahu returned to the post in late December 2022 following elections, is mentioned in the table 23 times.

Among the other officials on the list were former national security adviser Eyal Hulata, who received a silver Rolex during a 2021 visit to the United Arab Emirates, and Energy Minister Eli Cohen, who earlier that year while serving as intelligence minister was gifted an M16 rifle while visiting Sudan.