Egyptian media had published earlier in the week that the White House had declined a meeting between Sisi and Obama.
By MICHAEL WILNERUS President Barack Obama boards Marine One.(photo credit: THE WHITE HOUSE)
US President Barack Obama will meet with Iraq's new prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi during the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week, both introductory meetings between the American president and the two newly minted leaders.Egyptian media had published earlier in the week that the White House had declined a meeting between Sisi and Obama.Upon returning from New York, Obama will also meet with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu at the White House on October 1, National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said. Netanyahu will be in the US to address the UN assembly.Netanyahu last met with Obama at the White House in March of this year.During the meeting, the premier pushed back against pressure from the White House to swiftly cut a deal with the Palestinians as the president warned time was running out for peace.“Israel has been doing its part, and I regret to say that the Palestinians haven’t,” Netanyahu said to Obama, in front of the press. “The people of Israel know that it’s the case.”“What we want is peace – not a piece of paper,” he said.Netanyahu called for a “real peace... based on mutual recognition,” and chided his Palestinian counterparts for promoting “incessant violence” against the Jewish state.“Israel, the Jewish state, is the realization of the Jewish people’s right to self-determination,” Netanyahu said. “I think it’s about time they recognized a nation state for the Jewish people. We’ve only been here for about 4,000 years.”
