Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu set out for Europe Monday morning with his wife, Sara Netanyahu, with plans to meet British, French, and German leaders and lobby them to increase pressure on the Tehran regime.
Netanyahu will land in Berlin later on Monday, and is scheduled to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel shortly after his arrival.
On Tuesday, Netanyahu is slated to meet with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris, before heading to London for a meeting with British Prime Minister Theresa May and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson on Wednesday.
During his trip to Europe, Netanyahu told reports Monday that he planned to lobby European leaders to apply greater pressure on Iran, regarding both Iran’s nuclear program and recent attacks from Syrian territory against Israel.
“I’m leaving now for a very important trip to Europe,” Netanyahu said on the tarmac Monday morning just before his departure.
“I’m going to meet with three European leaders, and I’m going to raise two issues with them: Iran and Iran.”
Netanyahu said he would raise “the need to continue the pressure on Iran against its nuclear program. I believe that we need to strengthen this pressure.”
European leaders have hitherto declined to embrace the position taken by Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump that the Iran nuclear deal must be strengthened and expanded – a fact Netanyahu acknowledged Monday.
“It is possible that we won’t be in full agreement in this matter right now, but I think that in the long-term, an understanding can be worked out.”
Turning to Iran’s recent escalations with Israel along Israel’s northern border, Netanyahu said he planned to raise “Iran’s aggression in the region,” with European leaders, “especially [Iran’s] attempts to establish itself against us militarily in Syria, and to attack us from there. In this regard, I hope that we can reach some agreement on policy.”
During his visit to Paris, Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Macron will attend an event in honor of 70 years of the State of Israel and the opening of the Israeli-French "combined seasons" in the context of which approximately 300 events will be held in the two countries in fields such as science and innovation, the arts, music, the culinary arts, academia, the economy and the theater. Netanyahu will also attend an economic event – at the invitation of French Economy and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire – with senior French corporate leaders, and meet with French Jewish community leaders.