An Israeli journalist of Russian origin is disembarked from Netanyahu’s plane to Washington

An Israeli journalist of Russian origin was disembarked from a plane carrying Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on his trip to Washington on Tuesday after security agents wanted to verify the sides he was communicating with.

Nick Kolyohin, (42), is freelance journalist, was scheduled to cover the meeting between Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump for three Russian television channels, the seventh since Trump returned to the White House in 2025.

Unlike Netanyahu’s recent two visits to the United States, journalists were allowed to travel with him on his plane.

But after Kolyohin boarded the plane with about a dozen other journalists and arranged his luggage, Shin Bet agents, the Internal Security Service, told him to get off the plane before takeoff.

The prime minister’s office confirmed that he had been excluded from the trip for security reasons, without elaborating, according to a statement.

The Shin Bet pointed out that they are in charge of the prime minister security, pointing out that decisions are taken in this context with the aim of reducing the risks that threaten the prime minister.

“The treatment of a journalist who is invited as such… Humiliating him in front of everyone and expelling him is illogical… They took my stuff and searched them as if I had a bomb,” Kolyohin said.

According to him, Shin Bet agents had told him they wanted to verify the sides he was communicating with.

The Moscow-born journalist immigrated to Israel at the age of nine, and today holds only Israeli citizenship, and served in the army before working for a government agency within the prime minister’s office in 2011-2012, during Netanyahu’s previous term.