Netanyahu arrives in New York to address the United Nations

Associated Press Reporter

Israel’s increasingly isolated Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has arrived in New York to address the United Nations General Assembly, but no meeting with US President Donald Trump is planned.

The Israeli prime minister’s brief stay in New York for his speech at the UN General Assembly includes meetings with several world leaders, according to his office — but not Mr Trump, US secretary of state Marco Rubio or any Arab leaders.

Mr Netanyahu’s office said “many world leaders” asked to meet with him but that he was on a “tight schedule” and needed to return to Israel before the start of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, which begins at sundown on Friday.

Mr Netanyahu will meet with the presidents of Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, Panama, and Ethiopia, the vice president of Colombia, and the prime ministers of Greece, Slovenia, and Papua New Guinea, according to his office.

Meanwhile, a top EU official says only one billion euros has been raised out of the 71 billion euros that the United Nations, the World Bank and the 27-nation European Union estimate are needed to rebuild Gaza.

“All of us, we have to scale up our efforts,” said European commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Suica, speaking on the sidelines of the General Assembly.

She called for a unified recovery plan that would bring together Israel, the Palestinian Authority, the US-backed Board of Peace, and the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza.

At a meeting of the Gaza board in New York on Wednesday, the group proposed a six-month, 2.45 billion dollars plan to begin reconstruction and governance in Gaza as Trump’s ceasefire plan struggles to stay afloat.

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