Obama and Netanyahu to meet after U.N. General Assembly

By Robert Pines, TIP Fellow

President Obama talks with Prime Minister Netanyahu as they walk from the Oval Office to the South Lawn Drive of the White House, following their meetings, May 20, 2011

Washington, Aug. 13 – President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are set to meet this fall against the backdrop of the United Nations General Assembly.  After addressing the General Assembly in New York, the two leaders will travel to Washington between Sept. 28 and Oct. 1 to discuss a range of issues facing the two nations.

Atop the list of concerns facing the U.S. and Israel is the Iranian nuclear threat, which Netanyahu has said “dwarfs all other” challenges.  Netanyahu’s address to the General Assembly, tentatively scheduled for Sept. 27, is thought to be among his last appeals to the international community to prevent Iran from obtaining atomic weaponry, reports Israel’s Channel 10 News.

In meeting with Obama, Netanyahu is presumed to be setting the stage for a potential attack on the Islamic Republic before the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 6.  Waiting any longer means taking on the risk of having to defy a new president, which Israel seeks to avoid.

Other issues to be discussed between the two leaders include the renewed Palestinian declaration of independence, the slaughter in Syria, and the political situation in Egypt and, in particular, the Sinai Peninsula.