Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara will fly to Rome on Thursday and will remain in Italy for the entire weekend, despite the fact that this visit will include one official meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, which is expected to last 45 minutes.
On Thursday evening, Netanyahu will visit the Rome Jewish Museum and meet with the leaders of the Jewish community in Italy.
On Friday, Netanyahu is expected to hold a meeting with businessmen at the Italian Ministry of Economy and in the afternoon there will be a meeting with the Prime Minister, during which Netanyahu will ask her to relocate her country’s embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Netanyahu and his wife will return to Israel on Saturday night.
Meloni, who heads the right-wing Brothers of Italy Party, won Italy's national election in September.
The Brothers of Italy party is considered a far-right party and has drawn accusations of fascism and semi-fascism, though it suspended a candidate who had praised Hitler prior to the election.
Meloni herself has made several controversial statements, accusing Israel of carrying out "another massacre of children in Gaza” during Operation Protective Edge in 2014, but attempted to position herself as a more pro-Israel candidate in the elections.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry issued a general statement a week after the Italian election, in which it did not mention Meloni specifically but rather wrote that "Israel congratulates the people of Italy on the end of the election campaign and looks forward to continued cooperation and friendship with the government that will be established and the Italian people.”
The statement added that "Italy is an important friend of Israel."
After Meloni officially formed the new coalition in Italy, then-Prime Minister Yair Lapid congratulated her and said he looked forward “to working together to strengthen the ties between Jerusalem and Rome as well as in the international arena, including in international organizations and in everything related to the fight against antisemitism, in Europe and in the Middle East.”