With Netanyahu ostracized, his US visit will be very short, with Trump unwilling to meet him: Israeli analysts

Israeli analysts and figures criticized the global standing of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel as he visits New York this week to address the UN General Assembly, saying he will hold few meetings during his short stay, as he is now internationally shunned, Anadolu reports.

One analyst said US President Donald Trump – a longtime ally of the Israeli leader – would rather not meet with Netanyahu.

Barak Seri, an Israeli military intelligence analyst and former officer, said Netanyahu’s visit to New York was “very unusual, very short, and almost devoid of meetings.”

“Netanyahu is now ostracized, and Trump does not want to meet him,” Seri told local radio station 103 FM.

Eli Ohana, a former soccer star and former president of Israeli club Beitar Jerusalem, said the situation in Israel is “not ideal,” adding that he avoids revealing his nationality while on foreign soil.

“The situation in Israel is not ideal, and we did not reveal our Israeli identity outside our country. When I was on vacation in Greece, I hid my identity,” Ohana told the same radio station.

“Today, we are going through an abnormal period,” he added.

Dan Shapiro, the former US ambassador to Tel Aviv, said Israel’s standing is facing an “unprecedented decline” in the US and that Netanyahu “is not part of the solution.”

Israeli radio station Reshet Bet quoted Shapiro, who served as ambassador from 2011 to 2017, as saying: “There is an unprecedented decline in Israel’s standing in the United States.”

He added that the decline is “unprecedented even among Republicans” – members of Trump’s party, who also tend to be pro-Israel – and that “it is difficult to see Netanyahu as part of the solution to this situation.”

“Trump may also reach the conclusion that it would be easier to deal with another government in Israel,” Shapiro added, with the Oct. 27 Israeli elections currently too close to call.

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Netanyahu has headed the current government since late December 2022, a government described as the most right-wing in Israel’s history.

– Under a legal cloud

Netanyahu is scheduled to address the 81st session of the UN General Assembly at 2 pm New York time (1800GMT) Thursday.

Netanyahu’s current schedule in New York does not include a meeting with Trump, despite previous Israeli efforts to arrange a meeting between them, according to Israeli media reports.

The visit comes amid expectations of protests against Netanyahu in New York, in condemnation of Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip and attacks in the occupied West Bank.

Israel has been waging an extermination war in Gaza since Oct. 8, 2023, killing nearly 74,000 Palestinians and injuring over 175,000, most of them children and women.

In addition to the casualties, Israel has destroyed around 90% of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure, with the UN estimating the cost of reconstruction at about $70 billion.

Alongside its genocidal war in Gaza, attacks by the Israeli army and occupiers against Palestinians and their property in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, have intensified, drawing growing international condemnation.

Israel is scheduled to hold general elections on Oct. 27.

Netanyahu also faces charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust in three separate corruption cases. Critics in Israel and elsewhere say he has prolonged Israel’s military offensives to be able to continue delaying his court hearings.

Separately, in November 2024, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu, accusing him of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

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