Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is set to visit the United Kingdom in the coming days in what is anticipated to be a vital diplomatic trip.
The London visit follows a trip by Israel’s PM to Berlin this week, Rome last week, and Paris last month in an apparent effort to galvanise support for the reimplementation of sanctions against Iran amid concerns that the Iranian regime is nearing nuclear weapon capability.
Netanyahu’s office issued a statement ahead of his visit to Germany saying he will discuss “various diplomatic and security issues, especially Iran and developments in the region” and that he will “emphasise the need to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.”
Both the UK and European Union are considering banning Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, but it was recently reported that the Biden administration is urging the UK not to prescribe the terrorist organisation, reportedly to leave the door open for negotiations. Relations appear somewhat strained between Jerusalem and Washington particularly over the issue of the White House not yet inviting Netanyahu to visit the US since his re-election, something that has usually happened by this point in other leaders’ premierships dating back the 1970s.
With China asserting itself as the new deal broker in the Middle East – having last week brought Iran and Saudi Arabia together in a surprise restoration of relations – Netanyahu is looking to Israel’s closest allies by making every effort to persuade the international community to renew its sanctions of the Iranian regime before its too late.
Standing at the Holocaust memorial Platform 17 in Berlin this week, Netanyahu spoke of the necessity of halting catastrophe in its early stages.
“The main lesson we have learned is that when you are faced with such evil, you have to obstruct the evil designs early on to prevent catastrophe,” Netanyahu said as he stood with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
According to YNet, Netanyahu has apparently been attempting to convey to his European counterparts that weapons shipments coming out of the Islamic Republic are mostly meant for Moscow.
He has warned that the technological and military cooperation between Russia and Iran is designed, among other things, to improve the accuracy and range of Iranian made payload-carrying drones and anti-aircraft missiles to target the Ukrainians. In exchange, Iran gets a fresh supply of Russian fighter jets.
All of that will not only serve to prolong the war in Ukraine, but make it easier for the Iranians to endanger shipping routes from the Persian Gulf to Europe, thus compromising Israeli capability to effectively defend the homeland.
This year, we want to do more to bless Israel and the Jewish people.
We know that as we bless Israel this year, God will bless us, just as He promised in Genesis 12:3, “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” Now is the time to bless Israel and the Jewish people.
