Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be flying to Italy for diplomatic talks at the end of August. While there, he will also be paying a visit to the Israel pavilion at Expo 2015, a foremost international event. The Israeli exhibition, called “Fields of Tomorrow,” features advanced technology to provide the world with healthy food. Against this impressive backdrop, in a chilly pavilion that offers a sharp contrast to the Middle East’s August heat, Netanyahu plans to talk about the enormous opportunities that the Israeli economy offers foreign investors.
Almost immediately upon his return home, the state budget for 2015-16 will be submitted to the Knesset. (The 2015 budget is being submitted only in August due to political infighting and the March 17 elections.) Netanyahu will then go oversees again, this time to London, for talks with British Prime Minister David Cameron. Once in London, he will likely hop over to Berlin for a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. These talks will focus on the Iran nuclear deal, shortly before it is brought before Congress for approval on Sept. 17.
After spending the Jewish New Year (Sept. 13-14) in Israel, Netanyahu is expected to fly to New York to attend the annual meeting of the UN General Assembly. Once again, he will warn the world of the dangers posed by a nuclear Iran in what is bound to be another attention-grabbing speech. During his visit to the United States, Netanyahu might also meet with President Barack Obama, with whom he has been on a collision course for a long time.
Netanyahu hasn’t left Israel since his fourth government was sworn in, apart from a quick jaunt to Cyprus at the end of July. As each and every member of his 61-seat coalition, which has a majority of only one Knesset member, the prime minister is also under “curfew” and unable to leave the country, to avoid losing any votes in the Knesset. But now that the government approved his budget and he enjoys a degree of political stability, Netanyahu can leave the country to get some fresh air overseas. The Knesset is on its summer recess for three months, so Netanyahu is safe for now. The big question is what will happen after the summer break. Will the furious predictions of top opposition leaders Zionist Camp head Isaac Herzog, Yisrael Beitenu party head Avigdor Liberman and Yesh Atid head Yair Lapid that the current government will fall apart by early 2016 turn out to be accurate, or were those predictions just wishful thinking?
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