JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday dropped US President Donald Trump from the banner photo of his Twitter account in an apparent break with a political ally who may be accused.
A photo of Netanyahu sitting next to Trump during a White House meeting has long been proud of the official @netanyahu account, which testifies to the Conservative Israeli leader’s close ties with the Republican president and his popularity in Israel.
Early Tuesday, there was another photo showing Netanyahu being injected with the coronavirus vaccine, along with the slogan for Israel’s vaccination campaign: “Citizens of Israel, we are returning to life”.
Netanyahu kept the photo of his meeting with Trump, long before him, about a tough policy towards Iran and the Palestinians, even after the defeat of the Republican president by the Democrat Joe Biden during the US election in November.
The photo was briefly replaced last month with a Hanukkah holiday theme, which the media speculates that Netanyahu has decided to distance himself from Trump.
But when the eight-day Jewish festival is over, Trump reappears – although he is no longer alone with Netanyahu in a photo.
Instead, Netanyahu posted a banner image of himself with the presidents and foreign ministers of the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain who signed an agreement in the White House in September on formalizing ties with Israel.
No statement was made on Netanyahu’s website about Trump’s disappearance, a day before the US House of Representatives is expected to begin considering his second indictment after last week’s storm the Capitol.
Trump’s own account was permanently suspended by Twitter on Friday due to what the social media giant described as the risk of further incitement to violence.
Netanyahu called the events at the Capitol an “amok” in television comments on Thursday, saying he was confident that American democracy would triumph.
(Report by Jeffrey Heller; Edited by Raju Gopalakrishnan)