BICOM

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu travelled to London yesterday evening with his wife Sarah, in order to attend today’s funeral of Margaret Thatcher. Netanyahu’s visit to London, which follows a full schedule of Independence Day events and celebrations, is set to include a meeting with Prime Minister David Cameron.

Citing an unnamed senior Israeli official, Haaretz says that Netanyahu will urge Cameron to exercise caution over the possibility of arming Syria’s opposition groups. Over recent months, the UK and France have spearheaded attempts to persuade the European Union to lift, or at least significantly amend, an arms embargo on Syria that currently bans the supply of military equipment to either side of the Syrian conflict. Foreign Secretary William Hague repeated his call for greater foreign intervention on behalf of the Syrian opposition at a meeting of G8 foreign ministers last week.

However, Haaretz says that although Israel does not object in principle to Western nations helping arm the Syrian opposition, there is concern that such military aid will end up in the hands of Islamist groups who may take aim at Israeli forces on the border with Syria. Netanyahu will apparently ask Cameron to carefully screen any groups who will benefit from potential military aid in order to avoid such a scenario.

Israel Radio reports that Netanyahu will also meet later today with Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who is also attending Margaret Thatcher’s funeral. Haaretz says that in addition, Netanyahu is hoping to hold short conversations with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, all of whom will be in attendance in London.