On US tour, Israeli finance minister keeps distance from trouble at home

Those following Israeli Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon on Facebook got to accompany him this week on his first official meetings with the new administration in Washington through his posts, video clips and ceremonial photos. The videos exuded an energy typical of election campaign clips: professionally edited with appropriate background music and captions, portraying Kahlon as a straight talking, charismatic winner on the world stage.

In one of the videos, shot on July 23, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is standing next to Kahlon. Mnuchin appears somewhat embarrassed as his Israeli guest speaks — in Hebrew — describing the “amazing” meeting they had, during which the secretary expressed great appreciation of and support for Israel’s economy, for the State of Israel and its people. Mnuchin clearly did not understand a word, but went along politely. The opening shot shows Kahlon skipping up the steps of the Treasury Building to a musical beat.

The first daily installment of “Mr. Kahlon goes to Washington,” documenting his activities from the moment he arrived in the capital, starts with Kahlon saying, “We have now landed in Washington, the Finance Ministry staff and myself, to hold meetings with the new administration.” In the ensuing scenes he reports on his meetings with the head of Israel Bonds and with Mick Mulvany, the head of the US Office of Management and Budget, with whom he “discussed setting up a joint team.” Everything is presented nicely accompanied by photos, candid and otherwise.

Kahlon has occasionally mentioned the latest outbreak of violence in Jerusalem and the despicable July 21 murder of the Solomon family in the West Bank settlement of Halamish. However, he conspicuously sidestepped any reference to the government’s decisions to install metal detectors at a Jerusalem holy site and immediately remove them as Palestinians rioted and Israel was faced with a crisis with Jordan.