diplomacy - Page 22

JERUSALEM – In a move that angered Palestinians, the U.S. officially closed its consulate in Jerusalem on Monday, merging consular activities with the main embassy which was relocated to the capital in May. 

If nothing else comes of it, the latest round of Pakistani aggression against India served as yet another signal to the U.S. that the time has come to cut its losses and walk away from Afghanistan.

TEL AVIV – President Donald Trump came to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s defense Thursday as the latter awaited an announcement on whether he will be indicted on corruption charges, saying the Israeli premier was “tough, smart, and strong.”

“I think having a fake hearing like that and having it in the middle of this very important summit is a really terrible thing,” Trump said during a press conference after the nuclear talks were cut short.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani officially rejected the abrupt resignation of the Islamic Republic’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, arguing in a letter to the to diplomat published on Wednesday that accepting his exit would be “against the country’s interest.”

“I have now spent more time in Vietnam than Da Nang Dick Blumenthal, the third rate Senator from Connecticut,” Trump wrote on Twitter from Vietnam.

He traveled about 30 minutes to his hotel, as thousands of people lined the street to welcome Trump, according to reporters traveling with the president. Many of them waved U.S. and Vietnamese flags. 

TEL AVIV – European nations must follow the U.S. and cancel the nuclear agreement with Iran which seeks to conquer Europe as part of its hegemonic project, Syrian opposition activist Issam Zeitoun told Breitbart News.

Princess Rima bint Bandar al-Saud is Saudi Arabia’s next ambassador to the U.S. – the first woman to take on an envoy role for the Islamic kingdom.

Jerusalem — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit Russia on Wednesday for talks with President Vladimir Putin that had been scheduled for this week, the Israeli government said.

Japan recognized Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó as the country’s legitimate president on Tuesday, joining the over 50 democratic nations around the world to have already done so.

TEL AVIV – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secretly met with Morocco’s Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita in New York last September during the UN General Assembly, Israel’s Channel 13 news reported.

WARSAW, Poland — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Omani Foreign Minister Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah Wednesday on the sidelines of Warsaw’s Middle East conference, telling him that the recent rapprochement between the two countries was “changing the world.”

The Mideast conference in Poland starting Wednesday offers Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu an opportunity to flaunt in public what he has long boasted about happening behind the scenes — Israel’s improved relations with some Gulf Arab nations.

Global concern over U.S. “power and influence” has nearly doubled since the election of President Donald Trump, the Pew Research Center revealed Sunday.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame, who led an active, reformist tenure as African Union chair, on Sunday passes the baton to Egypt, seen as more likely to focus on security issues than expanding the powers of the body.

President Donald Trump announced Friday his decision to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with Russia.

TEL AVIV – The deputy head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps on Monday said that if Israel attacks Iran, it would respond by wiping Israel off the map. 

France’s Emmanuel Macron began a three-day trip to Egypt on Sunday that will include a meeting with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to sign deals worth hundreds of millions of euros, a move likely to spark new criticism of Egypt’s human rights record.

2018 was a banner year for Israel-Africa relations. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke of a “great change” heralding blossoming ties between the Jewish state and African nations. But while the political elites were enmeshed in a diplomatic drive, another – no less important – effort was being made to forge connections on a cultural level.

BRUSSELS (AP) – A key European Union (EU) legislative group has lambasted U.S. President Donald Trump’s “harmful” approach to trans-Atlantic relations, warning that the divisions it creates will only embolden global rivals.

The European Union’s super-state aspirations have suffered a setback as Brussels realises its “ambassador” in Washington D.C. was downgraded without notice.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani met Tuesday with the leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group and urged Palestinians to “fight and resist” Israel until it capitulates.

Honduras on Tuesday discussed with Israel and the United States moving its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a controversial initiative that follows similar gestures by Washington, officials said.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday assured Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the planned withdrawal of US ground forces from Syria will not alter Washington’s commitment to countering Iranian aggression and maintaining Israel’s security.

Israel officially left the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on New Year’s Day in protest at the agency’s inability to combat its own politicization and profound anti-Israel bias.

TEL AVIV – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Brazilian Jewish leaders on Sunday that Brazilian President-elect Jair Bolsonaro revealed moving the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was a matter of “when, not if.”

TEL AVIV – Jordan’s Foreign Ministry on Sunday said despite the fact that a Jordanian government spokeswoman was photographed stepping on an Israeli flag, the Hashemite kingdom is committed to respecting its peace agreement with Israel.

An Israeli government source insisted Saturday that Brazil’s embassy move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was merely “a matter of time,” and that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Brazilian President-elect Jair Bolsonaro had discussed the matter during their meeting Friday.

TEL AVIV – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seemed to be living it up during a state visit to Brazil, and was caught on camera dining in Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana, being swamped by fans on the beach, and even engaging in an impromptu round of soccer. 

Brazilian President-elect Jair Bolsonaro said Friday he expects to visit Israel by March 2019, after accepting an invitation by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who is currently on a state trip to Brazil.

Moscow will early next year host the leaders of Russia, Iran and Turkey to discuss the Syrian conflict, Russia’s deputy foreign minister said Friday, after the United States announced it was withdrawing troops from the country.

Syria says the United Arab Emirates will reopen its embassy in Damascus for the first time in seven years.

A delegation of senior officials from Honduras was recently in Israel, reportedly to explore the possibility of moving the Honduran embassy to Jerusalem, after secret talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered a speech to the German Marshall Fund in Brussels, Belgium on Tuesday in which he defended President Donald Trump’s foreign policy, saying the president is reforming the “liberal international order” by restoring the role and responsibility of nation-states, and making America stronger.

Airbnb’s partial boycott of Israel last week came just as the Arab world, Africa, and Eastern Europe moved closer to the Jewish state.