Bill Clinton has been paid $500,000 by an environmentalist group to deliver a 45-minute speech in Israel recognizing Israeli President Shimon Peres' 90th birthday, prompting one liberal newspaper to call the event "a cause for embarrassment."

The Jewish National Fund, the group paying for Bill Clinton's speech at the Peres Academic Center in Rezhov, has been under fire from liberal newspapers for donating such a large sum of cash to the former president instead of using the money to directly address environmental issues.

"The JNF [Jewish National Fund] sought to generate positive PR for itself abroad - where pro-Palestinian activists have been attacking the agency - by inviting Clinton to speak on sustainability at its annual conference, while at the same time introducing some of its biggest donors to Clinton," read an article published by liberal Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

But Haaretz wasn't the only Israeli news media organization to be outraged by the move.

The editor of Israel Hayom's English language edition, Amir Mizroch, was displeased with the JNF's decision, tweeting: "Aren't they supposed to plant trees with donor cash? I guess money does grow on trees."

Mizroch was also joined by Israel TV Chief Diplomatic Correspondent Ayala Hasson who posted on Twitter that paying Bill Clinton that amount of money for a speech was "a loss of all shame."

After learning of the event's fund-raising ambitions, the chief of staff of the President's Residence, Efrat Duvdevani, sent a letter to the heads of the Peres Academic Center in which she made it clear that Peres would not attend the dinner if donations were solicited during the event, according to Haaretz.