LOS ANGELES (AP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is visiting California, trading a focus on the geopolitics of the Middle East for a Hollywood screening and visits with Silicon Valley tech entrepreneurs.
Netanyahu’s two-day schedule includes the viewing in Los Angeles of a television documentary which features him.
The trip is the first time since 2006 that a sitting Israeli prime minister has visited California. It should offer Netanyahu a break from weighty discussions in Washington, where President Barack Obama challenged him yesterday to make “tough decisions” to salvage an elusive Middle East peace plan with Palestinians.
In a speech today before his flight west, Netanyahu reiterated his position that Western nations should increase pressure on Iran and its nuclear program. Once in Los Angeles, he planned to meet with local Jewish leaders before watching the television documentary Israel: The Royal Tour.
The show is described as “an all-access pass into – and across – the entire country, led by the one man who knows it best”.
Tomorrow, Netanyahu is scheduled to travel to the San Francisco Bay Area, where he will meet with Governor. Jerry Brown. The two plan to sign an agreement to expand cooperation between Israel and California, according to the Israeli consulate in Los Angeles, including in the areas of water conservation, alternative energy, agriculture and cyber security.
Netanyahu then is scheduled to visit Apple and WhatsApp, the free messaging service recently bought by Facebook that is widely used in Israel and elsewhere. Israel is a high-tech powerhouse, and many tech giants – including Apple, Google and Microsoft – have made investments there, buying companies or conducting research and development.
Netanyahu is scheduled to return to Los Angeles tomorrow before leaving Thursday, following a morning speech at the Museum of Tolerance.
