From the beginning of September to December, Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, will go on at least five trips abroad, some of which are particularly desirable in the diplomatic field.
Only last weekend Netanyahu's planned visit to Cyprus was rescheduled, with his first flight for the season of political visits set for September 3-4.
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Netanyahu's flights were canceled last month when he fell ill and had pacemaker surgery. The process, which spanned several weeks, started out with a report of dehydration and ended with the prime minister undergoing an overnight procedure to fit him with the device, after which the Prime Minister's Office reported that the doctors advised Netanyahu to rest, and his trips to Cyprus and Turkey were postponed.
Video: PM Netanyahu before his visit to Rome, March 2023 / GPO
The diplomatic visit to Cyprus will include a meeting with the Cypriot prime minister, a separate meeting with the Greek Prime Minister, and then a tripartite meeting of the three politicians. The trip to Cyprus was decided following the reconciliation between Israel and Turkey, which might have clouded the relations between the two countries. Netanyahu intended to first express his commitment to an alliance with Cyprus and Greece, and only then to travel to Turkey.
This arrangement will also be maintained in the prime minister's new political schedule. This is the first meeting between Netanyahu and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after the severing of ties with Turkey following the Mavi Marmara events in 2010, as well as most likely the only first official bilateral meeting. President Isaac Herzog took the first steps to "warm up" relations and now it is Netanyahu's turn.
On September 18-23, Netanyahu will participate in the United Nations Assembly's annual General Debate in New York, but it is not yet known when he will make his expected speech. The order of the leaders' speeches is usually arranged about ten days before the start of the convention, with the order of placement being as follows: kings first, then presidents and prime ministers, and finally ministers. The trip is expected to take place immediately after Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year), and Netanyahu will fly out one day before making his speech. As part of his stay at the United Nations, Netanyahu will hold political meetings with leaders who will also be coming to the gathering. The fact that all the leaders reside in the same location makes it possible to schedule bilateral meetings more easily. The full schedule, as mentioned, is expected to be posted closer to the trip.
The long-awaited meeting between US President Joe Biden and Netanyahu is due to be scheduled sometime between September and October. The White House reiterated its position that the teams are still trying to coordinate the meeting, which is expected to take place in the fall. According to assessments in Jerusalem, the meeting is expected to be held at the White House during those two months. Biden and Netanyahu spoke on July 16, the eve of the Israeli president's trip to the White House.
The US is closely watching what is happening in Israel, mainly because of the protests against judicial reform. Although so far only one bill has been passed, the White House has repeatedly called upon Israel to reduce the friction and reach a wide consensus. Biden said the same to Herzog and pointed out that there are great tasks to be dealt with by both countries and it is difficult to progress due to the tensions in Israel. This is also the reason that Netanyahu reached a decision to actively change his government's agenda since the Knesset's summer session ended.
He instructed his ministers and Knesset members not to comment any more on the legal legislation and instead, to present the administrative work that each one of them is dealing with, with Netanyahu concentrating on three main goals: transportation and infrastructure, high-tech and AI, and fighting the high cost of living. A change in the agenda should help Netanyahu advance his political goals vis-à-vis the US, mainly a normalization agreement with Saudi Arabia and promoting the visa waiver program with the US. Both issues will be decided on by the US administration in the coming months – by the end of the year and the start of the election year in the US.
Netanyahu's fifth trip is expected to be to Morocco. In the middle of July, an official invitation was received from the king of Morocco, following Israel's announcement that it recognizes Moroccan sovereignty on Western Sahara. Since then, Netanyahu's office has reported that efforts are being made to find a convenient date for both sides and according to estimates, this trip to Morocco is expected to be included in the prime minister's busy schedule in the fall-winter months.
Since the Abraham Accords were signed, Netanyahu has not made an official trip to Morocco, but ministers in his current government have visited the country many times. Ironically, the one who inaugurated official relations between Israel and Morocco last August was current Opposition leader Yair Lapid, during his tenure as foreign minister of Naftali Bennett's government.
The grand finale of Netanyahu's busy political schedule will be when he joins the Israeli team that will fly to the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference in the United Arab Emirates in November. Last May, Netanyahu, and Herzog were invited by the United Arab Emirates to address the conference. This will also be Netanyahu's first trip to the United Arab Emirates since signing the Abraham Accords at the White House.
No less than a thousand Israelis, many of them businessmen in 30 delegations of different various companies who will join the official delegation of the Israeli government led by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, are expected to fly to the conference. Even before the trip, Minister of Environmental Protection Idit Silman is expected to demand the enactment of an important climate law in the Knesset, which will be an official achievement to present at the conference.
Netanyahu's schedule of political campaigns is subject to the Knesset's return from its summer recess and to the extent that he will indeed manage to control the agenda until then and prevent additional legal legislation, as his partners would like to see. Another schedule that overlaps with the political agenda is that of the Supreme Court, which is expected to convene twice in September for a dramatic discussion on the Basic Law: Judiciary amendment on the reasonableness clauses (the amendment prohibits judges from striking down government decisions on grounds of unreasonableness), as well as the ongoing saga of when the Judicial Nominations Committee is convened
The political goals, vis-à-vis the internal goals that the coalition set under Netanyahu's leadership, as well as in the courts, have created a collision course and Netanyahu will have to successfully maneuver between the challenges at home, in order to achieve the goals he has set outside Israel's borders.
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