Netanyahu not expected to conduct many diplomatic meetings at UNGA due to tight scheduling

SEPTEMBER 24, 2026 08:07Updated: SEPTEMBER 24, 2026 08:37Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to arrive in the US on Thursday for an unusually brief visit centered on his address to the UN General Assembly, with plans to spend only about six hours on US soil before returning to Israel that same evening.Netanyahu is expected to land at a military airfield in New Jersey, travel to Manhattan, address the General Assembly, and then head back to Israel. His meeting schedule will also be unusually limited compared with previous UN visits. Netanyahu will not meet US President Donald Trump or Secretary of State Marco Rubio.The Prime Minister's Office said Netanyahu's meetings would include 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.Netanyahu's speech is expected to begin at around 2 p.m. New York time, and he will be the second-to-last speaker in the morning session. Only a few hours will separate his landing from his appearance at the podium.The drive from the military airfield in New Jersey to the UN headquarters could take about two hours. Under the current plan, shortly after arriving in the US, Netanyahu will head to the UN building. After his speech, he will leave for the airport.The brief visit also reflects concerns about security incidents and protests expected to accompany Netanyahu's arrival in New York, according to officials familiar with the preparations. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli protest activists are expected to gather, while Jewish groups are also preparing demonstrations in support of Netanyahu.PRIME MINISTER Benjamin Netanyahu at the Muni Expo 2026 conference in Tel Aviv, on June 24, 2026. (credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI/FLASH90)Netanyahu will also not take Israeli journalists aboard the Wing of Zion aircraft on this trip.Ahead of his departure, Netanyahu addressed his expected speech."You hear the terrible lies being spread there; I will fight for the truth," he said. "There will also be surprises."UNGA speech expected to focus on Iranian threat, include visual aidsIran is expected to be at the center of the speech, which is set to last about 40 minutes, an unusually long address for the General Assembly. Netanyahu is expected to discuss Iran's efforts to rebuild its nuclear program and missile capabilities and, according to officials familiar with the preparations for the speech, present new information about Iran and its reconstruction efforts.His team is also preparing visual aids relating to the Iranian threat, continuing a tradition from Netanyahu's previous UN speeches, most notably his 2012 "bomb" speech.Netanyahu is expected to go a step further this time and explicitly address the possibility of the regime in Tehran falling.His remarks come against the backdrop of intelligence assessments in Israel and the US according to which continued economic pressure, sanctions and damage to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' sources of funding could undermine the regime's stability.Netanyahu is also expected to address the Iranian people directly. The speech is expected to include messages directed at Lebanon and additional Arab countries, as well as references to international criticism of Israel, the International Criminal Court in The Hague, and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.Netanyahu will deliver his speech as New York serves as the scene of intensive diplomatic contacts surrounding Iran.The Trump administration has signaled that the possibility of a diplomatic channel with Tehran remains on the table, while the US president has held talks in the city with leaders and representatives from Gulf states on Iran and the future of the regional campaign.Belgium's Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxime Prevot addresses the 81st United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York City, US, September 22, 2026. (credit: Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)Those contacts will form the backdrop to the forceful messages Netanyahu is expected to deliver from the UN podium.Netanyahu's meeting schedule during the current visit is far more limited than during his previous trips to the General Assembly.Several plans considered ahead of the trip have already been dropped. Netanyahu will not continue to Texas for a visit to SpaceX, and a possible meeting with Elon Musk, which was discussed during earlier stages of planning, will also not take place.Behind the scenes, officials tried to arrange meetings for the prime minister with officials from Gulf states, but as of Wednesday night, those efforts had not come to fruition.Netanyahu not expected to hold diplomatic meetings during US visitAccording to the current schedule, Netanyahu is expected to hold almost no diplomatic meetings during the few hours he spends in the US.This marks a significant change from Netanyahu's previous visits to the General Assembly.Over the years, UN week has also served as an opportunity for him to hold a marathon of meetings with US presidents, European leaders, Arab heads of state, and leaders from Asia, Africa, and South America.In September 2023, just weeks before October 7, Netanyahu met in New York with then-US president Joe Biden, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and then-German chancellor Olaf Scholz, among others.His subsequent visits also included diplomatic meetings alongside his UN speech. The current schedule looks markedly different.The atmosphere awaiting Netanyahu inside the UN building is also expected to be tense.He will take the podium after a series of speeches containing sharp criticism of Israeli policy. Last year, his speech was accompanied by a mass walkout by representatives, while many delegations were absent or left the hall during his address.Alongside the content of the speech, attention will also be focused on events inside the hall and which delegations remain present while Netanyahu speaks.From the UN podium, Netanyahu is expected to respond to international criticism of Israel, devote a substantial portion of his remarks to Iran, and reveal the "surprises" he hinted at before departing for the US.Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.Follow us on Google