On the outskirts of the upcoming 5th World Holocaust Forum in Jerusalem on Thursday, not all has gone according to plan as far as Israel is concerned. Israeli officials on Tuesday expressed their displeasure over the decision by French President Emmanuel Macron, who is already in the country, to utilize his three-day visit to also meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah.
"We didn't think it was a great idea to visit Ramallah," a Foreign Ministry official told Israel Hayom. "We told the French [delegation] we weren't thrilled about it, but it was [Macron's] decision."
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Macron is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday morning followed by a meeting with President Reuven Rivlin.
He will meet with Abbas in Ramallah in the late afternoon hours.
Netanyahu, meanwhile, will meet with US Vice President Mike Pence at the US Embassy in Jerusalem on Thursday. It will be an uncommon setting for such a meeting, as Netanyahu convenes the vast majority of state visits at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, his official residence on Balfour Street in the capital or the King David Hotel on special occasions.
The meeting with Pence at the US Embassy in south Jerusalem is scheduled to take place on Thursday, after which the two are expected to visit the Western Wall in the Old City.
The American vice president is slated to land in Israel on Thursday morning. He plans to meet with Rivlin and Netanyahu, as stated. He will also deliver a speech on behalf of the US at the main ceremony at Yad Vashem.
