US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Israel today for a series of meetings with Israeli officials, including one with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Blinken visited Cairo on Sunday, where he said during a news conference about the recent violence between Israelis and Palestinians that all parties should “calm things down and deescalate tensions,” and reiterated the “importance of working for a two-state solution.” He met on Monday morning with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
Blinken will first meet Netanyahu and then Israeli President Isaac Herzog upon his arrival in Israel late Monday afternoon; he also is scheduled to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas during a visit to Ramallah in the West Bank on Tuesday.
Blinken’s visit to Israel comes as a day after Iran announced that a mysterious drone attack targeted an weapons factory in the central Iranian city of Isfahan; the attack bears the hallmark of previous Israeli airstrikes attributed to Israel. Netanyahu and Blinken are expected to discuss the nearly non-existent nuclear agreement between Iran and the world powers as well as preventing Iran from achieving nuclear weapons.
See The Media Line’s report ahead of Blinken’s landing in Israel: Blinken, Netanyahu to Discuss Stopping Iran’s Nukes in Wake of Drone Attack on Munitions Plant [1], as well as our continuing coverage.