A Jewish politician who was refused a cabinet appointment exchanged verbal blows with President Klaus Iohannis.

By Jack Gold, World Israel News

Romanian Jewish politician Ilan Laufer accused President Klaus Iohannis of anti-Semitism after being refused an appointment as regional development minister.

Iohannis pushed back, saying Laufer was “unfit” for the position, the Romania Insider reported Wednesday.

Laufer, a former Romanian business affairs minister, had expected to be appointed to the cabinet. After being passed over, he charged that Iohannis’ rejection was part of a long string of anti-Semitic actions that allegedly included sabotaging Romania’s relations with Israel and blocking the appointment of a Romanian ambassador to Israel.

“By refusing to appoint a person who has good relations with Israel and the U.S., Klaus Iohannis strengthens the belief that he only wants connections with Berlin,” Laufer stated Tuesday, referring to German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s request that Iohannis oppose moving Romania’s embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

Laufer also referred to Iohannis’s “dubious connection” \with the Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania, calling it “the successor of a Nazi organization.”

Former Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu “sold Jews. Today, I have the certainty that President Iohannis also sold a Romanian Jew. I don’t know to whom and for what money,” Laufer stated.

References to Nazism ‘irresponsible’

Laufer failed the “maturity test” by choosing to promote the “toxic propaganda” of the Social Democratic Party, Iohannis retorted.

“The references to anti-Semitism and Nazism in the political dispute are irresponsible and show serious deficiencies in education, culture, diplomacy and history,” the president said in a written statement. “People who bring such scandalous accusations automatically disqualify themselves and can’t hold high dignities in the Romanian state under any circumstances.”

Former President Traian Basescu criticized Laufer’s statement, saying it was “horrible.”

Alexandru Florian, head of Romania’s Elie Wiesel Institute, also dismissed Laufer’s comments as “cheap politicizing,” pointing to the 2017 “Light Unto Nations” award that Iohannis had received from the American Jewish Committee.

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Romania’s president censured his country’s prime minister for embarking on a visit to Israel and declaring support for moving the embassy to Jerusalem without his consent.

By: AP

Romania’s president has slammed the country’s prime minister for embarking on a visit to Israel without his authorization.

Klaus Iohannis blasted what he described as the “absurd secrecy” surrounding the two-day visit this week of Premier Viorica Dancila to Israel.

“Mrs. Dancila is not up to the job of prime minister of Romania and as a result the government is becoming a liability for Romania. That is why I am publicly calling for Mrs. Dancila’s resignation,” Iohannis said on Friday.

This latest spat comes just a week after Iohannis said Dancila had allegedly overstepped the mark in saying Bucharest was ready to follow the US and move the country’s embassy in Israel to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.

Earlier this month, Liviu Dragnea of the Social Democratic Party, which effectively runs Romania’s government, said Bucharest was ready to move the embassy. His statement coincided with Israel’s 70th Independence Day celebrations.

Iohannis said he hadn’t been informed and that the decision lacked “a solid … base.” However, he said such a decision could be made “after a deep analysis which takes into consideration all the foreign policy consequences and implications.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had welcomed the “Romanian government’s approval of a draft decision on initiating the transfer of the Romanian Embassy to Jerusalem.”

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