Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would take suitcases laden with dirty laundry for cleaning during his visits to Washington, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday.
The service is offered to world leaders visiting the White House free of charge, but according to sources within the Obama and Trump administrations, most of them do not use it, unlike the Netanyahu couple.
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L-R: U.S. President Donald Trump, Melania Trump, Sara Netanyahu and PM Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House for the signing of the Abraham Accords this month
(Photo: AFP)
“The Netanyahus are the only ones who bring actual suitcases of dirty laundry for us to clean,” the Washington Post quoted a U.S. official as saying. “After multiple trips, it became clear this was intentional.”
The Israeli Embassy in Washington rejected the claims and said it was a poor attempt to undermine the achievement of the normalization agreements between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain at the White House last week.
The embassy also said that despite the accusations, the prime minister brought only a few clothes for cleaning on his last trip to the United States.
According to the embassy, the Netanyahu couple did not use the dry cleaning services at all, and only asked to wash two shirts belonging to the prime minister, pajamas and one of his suits that needed ironing along with his wife's dress.
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Some of the suitcases taken with the Netanyahus for a visit to Portugal last year
(Photo: Itamar Eichner)
Another source did confirm that on his last visit, Netanyahu did not bring large quantities of clothes for washing, unlike his previous trips.
Last December, 11 suitcases were spotted on the Netanyahus' flight during a quick visit to Portugal.
The Prime Minister's Office said that the suitcases contained work equipment.