Maybe the most pro-Israel member of the Cabinet, Priti Patel changed UK aid to the Palestinian Authority to stop British money funding jailed terrorists’ salaries.
As news of her various meetings with Israeli officials broke over the last week, Ms Patel seems naïve at best for not reporting with the Foreign Office.
Israelis are perplexed by the row. In the freewheeling Israeli system, Cabinet ministers often have informal meetings without civil service minders.
One Israeli government source told me he didn't realise that the British civil service was so powerful that even Secretaries of State had to report to it. Another political source said that the Patel meetings seemed unremarkable and that similar meetings with ministers from other governments happen all the time.
