In an amusing slip of the tongue, the Israeli PM referred to his British counterpart as Boris Yeltsin, the former Russian president, triggering a barrage of jokes and a futile attempt by his office to hide the gaffe.

“I’ve returned from a very pleasant visit in London, where I’ve met with Prime Minister Boris Yeltsin and the US defence secretary,” Netanyahu said at Sunday’s weekly cabinet meeting, accidentally referring to Boris Johnson as late Russian President Boris Yeltsin, who died in 2007.

Corrected by his colleagues, Netanyahu immediately came up with a good comeback, claiming that he was just checking if anyone was even listening to what he was saying.

They’re nothing alike.... Yeltsin was the coherent one! — Joe Samuel-Cushing (@jscushing) September 8, 2019

The innocent slip of the tongue nevertheless seemed embarrassing enough for his office to try and hide the gaffe. The official transcript of Netanyahu’s remarks has no signs of it, while the edited video cuts away from the PM as he is heard saying Boris Johnson instead.

Yeah, and both haven't exactly been on the best terms with the parliament, although Yeltsin did go a bit further than Johnson pic.twitter.com/DeMf9xEuN7 — Five or six gender roles #NotOurTsar (@Mortis_Banned) September 8, 2019

Twitter found the mistake amusing, with the jokes mostly revolving around Netanyahu’s re-election campaign that focuses on his ties with the world’s most powerful leaders. To be fair though, during his first term the veteran Israeli politician did indeed meet Boris Yeltsin.

Also on rt.com Boris Johnson is a Kremlin agent too, because he talks to ‘Russian oligarch’ who hates Putin. What?

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