Prime Minister’s Office Asks Netanyahu to Return Gifts

The Prime Minister’s Office has requested that former prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu return a number of gifts he received during his tenure as prime minister, Maariv reported.

The report said that some 42 gifts given to Netanyahu during his 12-years as premier should have been turned over to the State of Israel but haven’t been.

Shlomit Barnea, legal adviser to the PMO, reportedly wrote a letter to Netanyahu earlier this month demanding that the items be returned. An aide to Netanyahu claimed that many of the items in question cannot be located.

Among the gifts requested by the PMO: a glass box decorated with gold leaves from then-U.S. president Barack Obama when Netanyahu visited the White House; a Chumash with an early edition with Rashi’s commentary, given by Russian President Vladimir Putin; and a framed copy of the documents then-U.S. President Donald Trump signed ordering the transfer of the Embassy to Yerushalayim, which was hand-delivered by then-vice president Mike Pence.

“With the end of term as prime minister you were supposed to return all of the gifts you received during your term … in the condition they were given, with the exception of reasonable wear and tear due to the passage of time,” Barnea wrote in the letter.