Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu taps Foreign Minister Israel Katz to fill in as acting prime minister while he’s in the United States this week.
Katz, a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party, will also chair the high-level security cabinet in the premier’s absence.
Netanyahu will take off this afternoon for Washington, where he is set to meet with US President Donald Trump for talks on the White House’s Israeli-Palestinian peace plan.
Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz, Netanyahu’s chief political rival, will meet with Trump at the White House tomorrow.
Gantz is set to return to Israel on Tuesday, when the Knesset will vote on forming the panel that will debate Netanyahu’s request for immunity from charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust.
Netanyahu, who denies wrongdoing, will meet with Trump that day and not return to Israel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, listens to Foreign Minister Israel Katz during the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem, October 27, 2019. (Gali Tibbon/Pool Photo via AP)
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