Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to leave for New York Tuesday to speak at the U.N. General Assembly and meet with U.S. President Barack Obama. Netanyahu's speech will take place on Thursday, shortly after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas speaks. Obama, with whom Netanyahu is scheduled to meet on Wednesday, is expected to address the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday. Netanyahu is expected to remain in New York over the weekend, returning to Israel on Monday. The U.S. and Israeli leaders will meet at the hotel where Obama is staying. Their meeting will likely be the last before Obama's term in office ends in two months' time. Netanyahu and Obama have not met since last November. The upcoming meeting follows the recent signing of a landmark defense aid agreement between the two countries. The Prime Minister's Office issued a statement, saying: "At the expected meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will thank him personally for the security assistance agreement that was signed last week. The agreement expresses the depth of the strategic relationship between Israel and the United States." The statement further said that at the meeting, Netanyahu plans "to discuss the challenges and opportunities in the Middle East as well as the way to advance peace and security." The Prime Minister's Office clarified Sunday that Netanyahu's letter outlining commitment to the aid deal addresses only the upcoming two years, 2017-2018, while the deal itself is set to be in place from 2019 to 2029. Despite Israel's two-year commitment, rather than a 12-year one, as some ministers initially understood, the Prime Minister's Office stressed that Israel does not have plans to negotiate for a larger defense package. Meanwhile, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said in a Fox News interview Sunday evening that the defense package is smaller than it could be, adding that Congress was bypassed in the negotiation of the aid deal. He said that he intends to raise the issue next week in an effort to funnel additional defense aid to Israel. Washington stressed that the aid package is testimony to the country's strong relationship with Israel, and is the largest such package the U.S. has ever given to another country. According to U.S. sources, at their upcoming meeting, Netanyahu and Obama are set to discuss the implementation of the July 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, the situation in the Middle East, and stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process. At the weekly Cabinet meeting on Sunday, Netanyahu addressed criticism of the defense aid package, saying, "Last week we signed the security assistance agreement with the United States for the coming decade. Israel will receive $38 billion in order to strengthen our military and our defensive systems against missiles. "I would like to thank President Obama, the American Congress and the American people. The support for Israel in the United States is stronger than ever. It crosses political parties and embraces the length and breadth of the United States, and it finds expression in this agreement. "This is the largest assistance agreement that the United States has ever provided to any country in its history, and this agreement proves the depth of the relationship, and the strength of relations, between Israel and the United States." He added: "I hear all kinds of background noise and disinformation about the agreement. I would like to make it clear: We were never offered more. We were not offered more money, not even one dollar, and we were never offered special technologies. These are distortions and fabrications of interested parties; either they do not have the facts or they are distorting the facts, and they are, of course, showing ingratitude, and in my view this is the saddest thing of all, ingratitude to our greatest and best friend, the United States. This is an agreement that will greatly strengthen the security of Israel, and we should all welcome it and express our appreciation to the United States."
