Israeli PM announces visit to Singapore amidst strained relationship with US and UN

Singapore and Israel will continue to tighten their historically cordial relationship when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits in February — it’s the first time a sitting Israeli prime minister will be making an official visit to Singapore. 

Jerusalem Post reports that Netanyahu plans to visit the city-state as well as Australia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. It’ll be his way of responding in kind to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s first official visit to Israel last April. No other details for the purpose of his visit were given. 

The announcement arrived in the midst of rock bottom relations between PM Netanyahu’s government and US President Barack Obama’s administration, who’ve clashed bitterly in the past eight years. 

The tension between the US and Israel went to an an all-time high when the former abstained from a United Nations resolution, allowing the coalition to declare Israeli settlements in occupied territories illegal. Soon after, US Secretary of State John Kerry delivered a harsh rebuke to the Israeli government, accusing Netanyahu of thwarting peace in the Middle East. 

Outgoing president Barack Obama echoed Kerry’s sentiments in his final White House press conference yesterday, stating that he realised a peace agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians was not likely to be possible, after years of attempts. 

Singapore’s stance has always been for the two-state solution in the Middle East Peace Process, and the government maintains friendly relations with both Israel and Palestine. What’s distinctive, however, is that Singapore and Israel share a Special Relationship — and an especially robust one in the matters of security and military trade. 



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