Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke three times with US President Donald Trump in recent days, discussing with him the “importance” of his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, a well-placed Israeli source say.
Netanyahu reasserted to Trump that the status quo on the Temple Mount will be preserved.
Briefing reporters about the international reactions to Trump’s dramatic declaration Wednesday, the source says that the responses from Central and Eastern European countries were, as expected, “measured.”
“Israel’s problem is focused on Western European countries, which can be seen also from their reactions to President’s Trump statement,” the source says.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at the International Conference on Digital Diplomacy at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem, on December 7, 2017. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)
But Jerusalem is unfazed, the source adds. “Israel is acting in several other international arenas, creating new relationships in Latin America, Asia and Africa in order to pursue its agenda.”
Netanyahu is due to fly to the “lion’s den” in Paris and Brussels early next week to confront Western European positions toward Israel, the source says.
The prime minister is scheduled to meet French President Emmanuel Macron as well as a meeting with European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and all 28 foreign ministers of EU member states.
Netanyahu is the first sitting Israeli prime minister to meet with all EU foreign ministers in over two decades.
— Raphael Ahren
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