Amid lurid allegations about his private life and widespread calls for him to resign, Max Mosley, the president of FIA, has suffered another setback after Israel announced it has withdrawn an invitation for him to visit the country.

Condemnation has rained down on Mosley since the publication in the News of the World of details about his part in a sado-masochistic orgy which is alleged to have taken with five prostitutes in a basement flat in Chelsea, west London.

Mosely, who faces a battle to remain in office, had received an official invitation from Galeb Majadle, the Israeli Minister of Science, Culture and Sport, to discuss the future of motorsport in Israel. But it has emerged that Majadle, who only extended the offer to Mosley this week, was unaware of the scandal surrounding the 68-year-old and on the day the FIA president announced he would be visiting the Monaco Grand Prix, the Israeli withdrew the invitation.

An official statement from the ministry read: "The minister for Science, Culture and Sport, Galeb Majadle, who is now in Jordan attending the WRC's Jordan Rally, met during the course of his visit with the president of the FIA, Mr Max Mosley. Their discussions were on the issues of motorsport in Israel, which is in its early stages, the support it receives from the FIA, and the suggestion the FIA will follow closely the development of the sport in Israel.

"The minister, who was not at all aware of the scandal currently surrounding Mosley's name, would like to make it now clear that his invitation was not intended to be personal to Mosley himself, but rather to the representative of the FIA as a global organisation. In any event, once the scandal was brought to the minister's attention, he has requested to withdraw immediately any official invitation to Mosley until the matter is reviewed more thoroughly once back in Israel."

The FIA have issued an official "no comment" on this latest development. Mosley will go before the FIA's general assembley on June 3, for a secret ballot that will decide his future as president of the organisation. In the meantime, Mosley, who has run the organisation for the past 15 years, is expected to embark on an intensive round of 'shuttle diplomacy' to try to secure his future.

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