General

EU foreign policy chief cancels visit to Israel

Middle East Monitor, June 9, 2018

European
Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini has cancelled an official visit to
Israel, which was scheduled for Sunday, Israeli media reported Friday.
High
Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Security
Policy and Vice-President of the European Council Federica Mogherini holds a
joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (not
seen) at the European Council headquarters within the EU Foreign Affairs
Council in Brussels, Belgium on 11 December, 2017 [Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu
Agency}

According
to Israel’s Channel Two, Mogherini was scheduled to participate in an
international conference organised by the Jewish-American Committee (a
pro-Israeli non-governmental organisation) next Monday in Jerusalem.
“Mogherini
cancelled her trip to Israel after the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu declined to meet her,” the channel said.
It said
Mogherini had requested Netanyahu’s office to arrange an appointment with
him, but the latter did not respond.
Channel
Two quoted an Israeli political source as saying that Netanyahu had refused to
meet Mogherini because of his “full agenda”.
The
source said “Netanyahu in fact cancelled his meeting with the foreign minister
of the European Union because of her very hostile position on Israel”.
Mogherini had
rejected the US move to transfer its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem

and warned of consequences the embassy shifted.
On May
14, the US relocated its Israel embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, drawing
condemnation from across the Arab and Muslim world and further inflaming
passions in the Palestinian territories.
Jerusalem
remains at the heart of the Israel-Palestine conflict, with Palestinians hoping
that East Jerusale, currently occupied by Israel, might eventually serve as the
capital of a Palestinian state.