LONDON - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson in London on Thursday, two weeks before Israel's election, and the two discussed Iran and a two-state solution.
The meeting between the two leaders was brief, lasting only half an hour.
Netanyahu is expected to meet with U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper later in the day. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence is also in London for a meeting with Johnson.
"We have the challenge of Iran's aggression and terrorism, and I'd like to talk to you about how we can work together to counter these things for the benefit of peace," Netanyahu told Johnson upon his arrival at 10 Downing Street.
"The U.K. still supports all efforts to reach a solution in the Middle East, and a two-state solution," replied Johnson. "I want to talk about that too," Netanyahu answered.
This is Netanyahu's first meeting with both Johnson and Esper since they manned their new positions respectively, as well as a first meeting with a leader from the Middle East for Johnson and Esper in their new roles.
Before leaving, Netanyahu expressed his opposition to renewal of talks between world powers and Iran in order to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal: "It’s not the time for discussions with Iran, it’s time for pressure."
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With Esper, Netanyahu is expected to talk about Israel's security needs. The prime minister and Esper held a telephone conversation on Tuesday, in which they agreed to lengthen the discussion in London.
On Wednesday, Johnson looked for new ways to bring about a national election after rebellious British lawmakers rejected his call to trigger a snap poll and moved to block his plan to leave the European Union next month without a divorce deal. It was the embattled leader's third Parliamentary defeat in two days and evidence that scarcely six weeks after taking office with a vow to break Britain's Brexit deadlock, Johnson's plans to lead the U.K, out of the EU are in crisis.
India visit cancelled
News of Netanyahu's intended diplomatic trip to Britain come a day after the prime minister nixed a visit to India, which was scheduled to take place a week before Israel heads to the polls. Netanyahu's bureau explained that the trip was cancelled due to "schedule constraints."
On Monday, Haaretz reported on Netanyahu efforts to engineer a dramatic diplomatic gesture from the Trump administration in order to help him win on September 17.
In recent weeks, there have been intensive talks between some of Netanyahu’s advisers and people close to U.S. President Donald Trump over a potential statement by the American president, in which he could commit to protecting Israel in the future from any existential threat.
Netanyahu is also trying to orchestrate some form of gesture from Russian President Vladimir Putin — either in the form of an official Putin visit to Israel or a trilateral meeting of the national security advisers of Israel, Russia and the United States. This would be similar to a meeting that took place in Israel in June.
Jonathan Lis contributed to this report
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/elections/.premium-netanyahu-to-set-out-on-snap-visit-to-london-meet-johnson-two-weeks-before-election-1.7799703
2019-09-05 11:43:00Z
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