For the first time in a decade, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has canceled his address to the United Nations General Assembly, which was to take place on the third and final day of speeches by world leaders, one of the most coveted spots on the schedule.
Likud Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz is scheduled to fly to New York next week to deliver a speech on behalf of Netanyahu instead. A scheduled meeting with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the UNGA that was to take place has also been canceled. There’s no word on whether it will be rescheduled, and if so, when and/or where.
According to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office, Netanyahu chose not to be out of the country next week at a time when President Reuven Rivlin is expected to release the official results of Tuesday’s (Sept. 17) election, as submitted to him by the head of the Central Elections Committee.
Rivlin will also be receiving recommendations for the post of prime minister from various party leaders, after which he is expected to assign the task of forming the next coalition government to the person he feels is most likely to succeed.