New Delhi, Delhi, India

A major diplomatic incident seems to have broken out over the dessert served by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe. 

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Abe was visiting Israel last week. 

News reports said things were going well and after a day of high-level meetings on May 2, Abe was served a meal at Benjamin and Sara Netanyahu's home. 

The meal, described as "top notch", was cooked up by celebrity Israeli chef Segev Moshe. 

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Things continued to go well until the dessert was brought out — chocolates in shoes. 

pudding shoe.jpg

Japanese culture abhors shoes. 

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Like in many homes in India, the Japanese do not wear shoes inside the home. 

But the Japanese take it a step further, and reportedly do not wear shoes inside the office too. 

The news reports added that the Japanese think of nothing as "lower" than a shoe.  

As expected, a furore followed with both Japanese officials and Israeli diplomats who've served in Japan saying the move was not funny. 

Moshe later issued a clarification saying the shoe holding the chocolates was not a "real shoe" but a sculpture (made of cast metal) by the artist Tom Dixon. 

The officials and diplomats however replied to that saying that before you serve a prime minister a meal, you should do at least a little reading up on them.