Israeli Prime Minister Set To Visit Latin America
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is set to become the first sitting Israeli premier to visit Latin America, with a ten-day trip to Argentina, Colombia and Mexico, before travelling to the US to address the UN General Assembly.
The trip comes at a difficult time for Netanyahu—Attorney General Avichai Mandeblit has decided to indict his wife, Sara Netanyahu, on corruption charges, and several cases against the prime minister himself are pending.
It was not clear until the last minute if Sara Netanyahu would join her husband on the trip, but the Prime Minister’s Office announced she would come along, perhaps as an attempt to convey “business as usual” despite the corruption scandals.
While in Latin America, analysts said the premier will focus on what Israel can offer these countries.
“Netanyahu is bringing a significant team of businessmen, including high-tech executives,” Arie Kacowicz, an expert on Latin America at the Department of International Relations at Hebrew University told The Media Line. “It is part of his approach of presenting Israel as a country that has something to offer developing countries.”
He also said that the visit to Argentina will be symbolic, as Netanyahu will attend ceremonies for two terror attacks in the 1990s that killed both local Jews and Israeli diplomats.
In the first, in 1992, a suicide bomber blew himself up at the Israeli embassy, killing 29 people. In the second attack, in 1994, 85 people were killed at the AMIA Jewish community center in what was then the largest bombing in Argentina’s history.
Israel has long accused the Shi’ite group Hizbullah and its Iranian backers of being responsible.
Several Israeli presidents have visited Latin America, including Chaim Herzog and more recently Shimon Peres, but it is the first time a sitting prime minister has made a similar trip.
Speaking at the opening of the Israeli cabinet meeting before he left, Netanyahu hailed the visit as “historic.”
“In Argentina and Mexico, I will be joined by delegations from Israeli companies in order to develop reciprocal economic relations between the countries,” the Prime Minister said. “We are, in effect, doing what we are doing in Asia, Africa, Australia, Eastern Europe, the eastern Mediterranean basin and around the world.
“This visit,” he continued” will strengthen our economic, security and technological ties with Latin America and it constitutes a continuation of the strengthening of Israel’s international position, a systematic process that we are successfully leading.”
Kaciowicz says that until now, Latin America was not seen as central to Israel’s foreign policy, which focused more on the US and Europe. He noted that Netanyahu will not be visiting Brazil, which is “the most important country in Latin America.”
He said Brasilia is mired in a political crisis surrounding corruption. In addition, there were tensions recently between Israel and Brazil over the former’s choice of envoy, Dani Dayan, who instead became Israel’s consul general in NY.
Dayan is an advocate for Jewish construction in the West Bank, and Brazil refused to accept him. After a standoff of several weeks, Israel gave in, and changed Dayan’s posting.
There have also been tensions with Mexico over a tweet Netanyahu posted in January concerning the wall that US President Donald Trump wants to build along the border—a move Mexico vehemently opposes.
“I built a wall along Israel’s southern border,” Netanyahu wrote. “It stopped all illegal immigration. Great success. Great idea.”
At the time, Mexico’s Foreign Ministry released a communique expressing its “profound surprise, rejection and disappointment in the prime minister’s message.… Mexico is Israel’s friend and should be treated as such.”
The upcoming visit therefore seems like a chance for Netanyahu to repair the relationship. In advance, he announced aid to Mexico following last week’s earthquake there.
Israel is known as being at the forefront of providing disaster relief.
It is also an opportunity for Netanyahu to divert focus away from the ongoing corruption cases against him and his wife.
The Israeli attorney general has not yet announced if he will indict Netanyahu.
“If there is an indictment, I think he will have to resign,” Guy Ben Porat, a professor of government and politics at Ben Gurion University told the Media Line. “There will be public pressure on him to resign and his own party might turn on him.”