BICOM

Prime Minister David Cameron and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to coordinate a new date for Cameron to visit Israel, after a scheduled trip next week was postponed due to the floods across southern England.

The two leaders spoke by telephone yesterday evening according to Netanyahu’s office. In addition to committing to re-schedule the trip, Netanyahu offered Cameron Israel’s assistance in dealing with the severe storms which have hit the UK. Cameron announced on Tuesday that he had cancelled his planned visit to Israel in order to oversee efforts to contain the damage from the UK’s wettest winter in 250 years.

The visit was to be Cameron’s first to Israel since becoming Prime Minister in 2010, during which he was expected to further strengthen UK-Israeli bilateral ties, with trade between the two countries worth an estimated £5.1billion alongside growing cooperation in the areas of science, education and technology. Cameron was scheduled to meet with Israeli leaders and would likely have stressed the significance Britain attaches to Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts and discussed the Iranian nuclear programme and other significant regional issues.

Last month, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman visited London, where following a meeting with Foreign Secretary William Hague he stated his support for US peace efforts. Hague visited Israel last May and during his visit he signed a wide-ranging memorandum of understanding to boost scientific cooperation. In December, Israeli Education Minister Shai Piron met Education Secretary Michael Gove in London and signed a memorandum of understanding to boost cooperation over English language studies, paving the way for a five-year nationwide English teaching plan in Israel, developed by the British Council.