It was minor innocent gesture, Melania explains in new book why she swatted Trump’s hand away in 2017 in Israel

Melania Trump has explained the real reason she swatted away husband Donald Trump‘s hand during a trip to Israel

The moment at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport sparked a media frenzy after it took place in May 2017.

At the time, video showed Melania clearly bat Trump’s hand away while walking a half-step behind him and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara.

But now Melania has quashed speculation that the gesture was indicative of the state of her marriage and chalked it up to a questions of logistics.

“The red carpet simply could not accommodate four of us abreast,” she writes, in an excerpt obtained by the New York Times. “It was a minor innocent gesture, nothing more,” she added.

The incident was addressed by the former First Lady as part of her memoir, Melania, which is due to be published on October 8.

The book addresses a number of controversies she weathered during her husband’s time in office.