“But contrary to the cliche ‘the importance of the visit is the visit itself,'” he says, nearly quoting Peri verbatim, “it would seem that Sissi decided to open a public diplomatic channel with Israel, at the end of which he’s likely to invite Netanyahu for a visit to Cairo. Because Egypt and Israel have joint interests, only some of which are in the defense department.”

In a state visit to Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Rwanda, Prime Minister Netanyahu hopes to strengthen the Israeli presence in East Africa; The trip will begin in Uganda for an official ceremony marking 40 years since Operation Entebbe.

Israel was ranked the eighth most powerful country, and 25 out of 60 on the overall best country ranking. […] [But,] Yair Lapid said the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement is gaining strength; that international organizations are taking anti-Israel positions; that there is a crisis with the US and EU; and the international media has taken a sharp anti-Israel line with the help of Israeli organizations [...]

Israel seems to be backing off an effort to appoint settler-advocate Dani Dayan as ambassador to Brazil. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly announced that he was naming Dayan—who has “devoted” much of his life to “expanding the Jewish presence in…disputed historic places across the West Bank”—in a Tweet in early August. 

The Israeli campaign could be seen as classic public diplomacy – a government reaching out directly to a foreign public – or it could be seen as inappropriate interference that could produce an anti-Israel backlash. This is a line public diplomats should be wary about crossing. Even in the world of hardboiled foreign affairs, subtlety and restraint have value.

While Netanyahu enjoys wide support among Israelis for his stand against Iran, his political opponents have criticized the prime minister for defiantly maintaining his staunch opposition to the agreement in a manner that they warn could result in Israel’s further isolation from its allies.

Previously strained US-Israel relations have turned “toxic,” in the words of former US secretary of state James Baker. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pre-election assertions are unlikely to be forgotten by Israel’s strongest ally, which has been committed for decades to the policy of two states for two peoples. While the US is currently reevaluating its options on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a pressing question remains: What can Netanyahu do in order to placate the White House and begin repairing this vital relationship? 

At times President Obama sounds almost incoherent on Iran. On one hand he says, like the Israeli prime minister, that he does not see a peace deal in the near future. (“What we can’t do is pretend that there’s a possibility for something that’s not there. And we can’t continue to premise our public diplomacy based on something that everybody knows is not going to happen at least in the next several years.”) So they are on the same page?