The Israeli government plans to send a high-level delegation to next week’s U.N. General Assembly in New York City, JNS has learned.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is going to meet with U.S. President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the summit.
Netanyahu’s delegation is expected to include Foreign Minister Eli Cohen; National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi; Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer; Health and Interior Minister Moshe Arbel; Minister of Environmental Protection Idit Silman; and Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Herzog.
Silman is planned to be involved in a climate event on Tuesday, and Arbel is to participate in a pandemic preparedness meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday meetings on universal health coverage and tuberculosis. (JNS could not confirm their schedules.)
Netanyahu is currently slated to address the international body on Thursday afternoon in New York—well outside the prime-time Israeli television window he reportedly desires. He is attempting to switch to a pre-Shabbat slot in Israel—on Friday morning in New York, according to reports.
Much has been made of the lack of a formal White House invitation for Netanyahu to visit the Oval Office. A senior Israeli official insisted to JNS this week that such a meeting between Biden and Netanyahu is forthcoming; however, scheduling constraints barred such a meeting next week.
The official said that will happen this fall, with Netanyahu repeatedly insisting that Biden invited him to visit during a July phone call.
The White House has been more coy, refusing to say whether a location was agreed upon, leading some to speculate that a less prestigious meeting would only take place on the U.N. sidelines.
