The US Embassy in Jerusalem declined to extend an invitation to right-wing ministers in the new Israeli government as part of an unofficial boycott and instead held a toast in honor of the upcoming Jewish New Year without them.
All of Israel’s ministers were included in the invitation list, but the Jewish Force and Religious Zionism ministers were not.
Channel 13 reported on Wednesday that Stephanie Hallett, the interim ambassador to Israel, gave invitations to the occasion to each Israeli minister.
Ministers from the Religious Zionism and Otzma Yehudit parties, such as Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich and Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir, were not invited.
The Biden administration has continued to shun groups to the right of the Likud with its decision not to invite the ministers to the event.
The embassy refused to invite the ministers of these two parties to its July 4th celebration in that month. Avi Maoz, a member of Noam, was also excluded from the celebration.
The two parties, which make up over 20% of the current Israeli government and were democratically elected by more than 500,000 Israelis, have been shunned by the US ever since the current administration took office.
In response to the report, the US Embassy said, “The guest list only includes those who have close working ties with the embassy.”
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