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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
World
Alison Rourke

Israeli PM wrongly refers to Boris Johnson as Boris Yeltsin

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu (centre) said he was checking if colleagues were paying attention when he referred to Boris Johnson as Boris Yeltsin.
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu (centre) said he was checking if colleagues were paying attention when he referred to Boris Johnson as Boris Yeltsin. Photograph: POOL/Reuters

The office of Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has released a video that clumsily tries to edit out a gaffe where he calls the British prime minister by the wrong name.

Netanyahu misspoke at Sunday’s weekly cabinet meeting, referring to his UK counterpart Boris Johnson as Boris Yeltsin, the former Russian president who died in 2007.

“I’ve returned from a very pleasant visit in London, where I’ve met with Prime Minister Boris Yeltsin and the US defence secretary,” Netanyahu said at the start of the meeting.

Cabinet ministers immediately interjected, and Netanyahu gave a wry smile before correcting himself, saying he was checking to see if his colleagues were paying attention.

But an official video of the meeting released hours later cuts away from Netanyahu at the moment he says Yeltsin – instead he’s heard saying “Boris Johnson”.

The two premiers met on Thursday during Netanyahu’s snap trip to London.

The gaffe comes as Netanyahu fights for his survival ahead of next week’s election re-run. Netanyahu appeared to win the April ballot but his attempts to form a coalition government stalled over disagreements between Jewish ultra-Orthodox parties and secular politicians.

His campaign for this poll has portrayed him as a veteran statesman with close relations with world leaders.

Twitter reacted with posts superimposing Yeltsin’s face onto Netanyahu re-election posters, which had originally showed him with President Trump.

The Israeli media outlet Haaretz reported that this was not Netanyahu’s first mix-up, saying in December he said in a campaign speech that he had been on an official visit to Afghanistan, mixing it up with Azerbaijan.

Associated Press contributed to this report

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