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[Published: Wednesday November 08 2017]

UK aid secretary criticised over Israeli contacts

London 8 Nov (ANA) - PRITI Patel has been summoned back to London from an official visit to Uganda as she's set to be fired by Theresa May. The International Development Secretary’s cabinet future is in doubt after she took part in unauthorised meetings with Israeli officials on a family holiday. It’s claimed she will be fired “within hours” after she failed to disclose the meetings to the Prime Minister or the Foreign Office. Mrs Patel has reportedly been accused of misleading Theresa May and lacking transparency about her relationship with Israel. A source close to the Prime Minister told The Sun: “We don’t believe Israel is the first time she has done this.”
A second source added: “There was an expectation of full disclosure at the meeting. It is now clear Priti did not do that. “Events will now have to be looked at again.” Nicholas Watt, the Political Editor for the BBC, stated that the Secretary of State would be “lucky if she is still in the cabinet by the end of this week”. Mrs Patel failed to disclose 12 meetings she took with Israeli officials while on a family holiday, including one with the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Tory has already apologised for taking time out of a family holiday to meet Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other politicians without telling the Foreign Office in advance.
However after further meetings came to light her Cabinet career could be over as Theresa May loses trust in Mrs Patel. Mrs Patel has come under criticism from left wing and pro-Palestinian organisations for allegedly breaching ministerial rules. The Secretary of State was accompanied to nearly all of her meetings with Israeli ministers, charities and non-governmental organisations by honorary president of the Conservative Friends of Israel lobbying group, Lord Polak. She apologised for setting up and reporting the meetings “in a way which did not accord with the usual procedures” and clarified her claim that Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson “knew about the visit”, admitting he did not know about it in advance. Mrs Patel said: "This summer I travelled to Israel, on a family holiday paid for myself. "While away, I had the opportunity to meet a number of people and organisations. I am publishing a list of who I met. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office was aware of my visit while it was under way. "In hindsight, I can see how my enthusiasm to engage in this way could be misread, and how meetings were set up and reported in a way which did not accord with the usual procedures. I am sorry for this and I apologise for it. "My first and only aim as the Secretary of State for International Development is to put the interests of British taxpayers and the world's poor at the front of our development work." Mrs Patel also met director general of the Israeli foreign ministry Yuval Rotem for discussions about "prospects for partnership work" between the two countries on development and humanitarian issues. She discussed "growing anti-Semitism" in British politics in separate meetings with public security minister Gilad Erdan and Mr Lapid, as well as visiting a host of charities, non-governmental organisations and businesses. All the meetings were arranged by Lord Polak and he attended them all apart from one, when Mrs Patel was introduced to the work of the Pears Programme For Global Innovation by its director, Aliza Inbal.(ANA)
FA/ANA/8 November 2017-----
 

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