Former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not heeded requests by the Prime Minister's Office legal adviser Shlomit Barnea Farago to return to the state gifts he received from foreign leaders, according to documents revealed on Sunday by Ma'ariv newspaper columnist Ben Caspit.
The gifts were allowed to be displayed at the Prime Minister's Office or his official residence, but Netanyahu was supposed to return them when his term ended.
The list of gifts includes a memento of the declaration of American recognition of control over the Golan Heights from former US president Donald Trump, a plate from Trump's wife Melania, a glass box with gold leaves from former US president Barack Obama and the first Bible with Rashi's commentary from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
There were also gifts from German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former French president Nicolas Sarkozy, and a fancy booklet of quotes of the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson.
When Netanyahu left the Prime Minister’s Office after losing the 1999 election, he was also accused of illegally taking gifts that belonged to the state. The police recommended charges against Netanyahu in that case but the attorney-general decided against an indictment due to a lack of evidence and because he had left politics.
A spokesman for Netanyahu said all gifts were returned and the gifts on the list are not in Netanyahu’s possession.
The spokesperson also called the report “an attempt to create a fictitious episode to distract the public from the NIS 23 million spent on renovating the private residences of [Prime Minister Naftali] Bennett and [Alternate Prime Minister Yair] Lapid.”