Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to depart Wednesday afternoon for one of his shortest-ever visits to the United States. Netanyahu will land in New York on Thursday, spend just six hours in the city, address the United Nations General Assembly at 9:00 p.m. Israel time, and then immediately depart for Israel without spending the night in the United States, aiming to return home before the start of the Sukkot holiday. Reports have likewise indicated that the New York portion of the trip could last only six hours.
2+Ahead of the visit, efforts were made to arrange several diplomatic meetings. However, scheduling constraints—including Israel’s Tishrei holiday calendar and U.S. President Donald Trump’s schedule—meant only a few hours remained in which the two leaders could potentially meet. Current reporting indicates that no Netanyahu-Trump meeting is planned during the brief New York visit.
2+Efforts were also made to arrange a meeting between the prime minister and billionaire Elon Musk. Netanyahu’s associates estimate that a meeting between the two will take place before Israel’s elections. Earlier plans for Netanyahu to visit Musk’s SpaceX facilities in Texas were also dropped for logistical reasons.
2+Meanwhile, Netanyahu convened a multi-front security consultation Tuesday evening with the heads of Israel’s defense establishment. One of the purposes of the consultation was to coordinate positions ahead of Netanyahu’s U.S. visit and diplomatic meetings on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, against the backdrop of ongoing security developments and rising tensions across multiple fronts.