Despite Benjamin Netanyahu’s best efforts, Donald Trump poses for a “selfie” with an Israeli politician accused of involvement in the drug and sex trade.

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JERUSALEM (AP) — President Donald Trump got an abrupt Israeli welcome on his arrival in Tel Aviv on Monday, with ministers asking favors and snapping selfies as they sought to get a piece of the commander in chief’s attention.

Lawmaker Oren Hazan, a politician in Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party with a reputation for inappropriate antics, gave Trump a version of his own characteristically aggressive handshake.

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Hazan then whipped out a cell phone and took a selfie of the unamused-looking president. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attempted, unsuccessfully, to swat Hazan’s arm away.

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The photo with Hazan represents a potential embarrassment for Netanyahu and the Likud party because of Hazan’s troubled reputation. In 2015, Hazan was suspended as deputy speaker of Israel’s parliament after a report alleged he was involved in the drug and sex trade while operating a casino in Bulgaria.

Earlier this month Hazan was also forced to pay a $416 USD fine and had his license suspended 30 days after police say he was caught driving 52 kilometres above the speed limit.

Likud politicians said after the incident that Hazan wasn’t invited to the welcome ceremony, and that he “caused a great embarrassment to Netanyahu.” A television commentator called the scene “a disgrace.”

“Unfortunately, a number of people who were not included on the list of senior staff snuck into the handshake row and despite the entreaties of the Foreign Ministry staff, refused to leave the line,” Israel Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nachshon said in a statement to the Times of Israel, without naming Hazan specifically.

Hazan later posted the photo to Twitter with the message “Thank you Mr. President — it was my pleasure!”

View image on Twitter

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אורן חזן ✔@oren_haz

Thank you, Mr. President
- it was my pleasure! @realDonaldTrump

6:58 AM – 22 May 2017

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