SOURCE
French President Nicolas Sarkozy
reportedly told US President Barack Obama
that he could not "stand" Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
and that he thinks the Israeli premier "is a liar."
According to a Monday report in the French website "Arret sur
Images," after facing reporters for a G20 press conference on Thursday,
the two presidents retired to a private room, to further discuss the
matters of the day.
The conversation apparently began with President Obama criticizing
Sarkozy for not having warned him that France would be voting in favor
of the Palestinian membership bid in UNESCO
despite Washington's strong objection to the move.
The conversation then
drifted to Netanyahu, at which time Sarkozy declared: "I cannot stand
him. He is a liar." According to the report, Obama replied: "You're fed
up with him, but I have to deal with him every day!"
The remark was naturally meant to be said in confidence, but the two
leaders' microphones were accidently left on, making the would-be
private comment embarrassingly public.
The communication faux pas went unnoticed for several minutes, during
which the conversation between the two heads of state – which quickly
reverted to other matters – was all but open to members the press, who
were still in possession of headsets provided by the Elysée for the sake
of simultaneous translation during the G20 press conference.
"By the time the (media) services at the Elysée realize it, it was on
for at least three minutes," one journalist told the website. Still, he
said that reporters "did not have a chance to take advantage of this
fluke."
The surprising lack of coverage may be explained by a report alleging
that reporters present at the event were requested to sign an agreement
to keep mum on the subject of the embarrassing comments.
A member of the media confirmed Monday that "there were discussions
between journalists and they agreed not to publish the comments due to
the sensitivity of the issue."
He added that while it
was annoying to have to refrain from publishing the information, the
journalists are subject to precise rules of conduct.
