Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit Fiji in February next year.
Times of Israel say Netanyahu has announced an upcoming trip to Fiji, which he explained is part of an ongoing bid to bolster Israel's standing in international forums such as the United Nations.
He says he is coming to Fiji because 15 countries or 15 islands each have a vote in the UN and they are going to that meeting.
Addressing American Jewish leaders via videoconference, Netanyahu indicated that his trip to Fiji will take place in the framework of his planned visit to Singapore and Australia in February.
No sitting Israeli prime minister has ever visited any of these countries.
Netanyahu says that it will be no more than a decade, and possibly a lot sooner, that the automatic majority against Israel in the UN will collapse, and Israel will actually find a fair hearing there.
Fiji has provided troops to UN peacekeeping operations on the Israeli‑Syrian border and in Lebanon, in the Golan Heights and in Egypt and Iraq, since 1978.
Earlier this month, Netanyahu hosted Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama in Jerusalem and thanked him for Fiji’s support for Israel in multilateral organizations.
Bainimarama had said that as Fijians, we have always regarded the people of Israel as friends, as very good friends, just as we do the citizens of its neighbors.
He said that we are here to help, we are here to keep the peace and that commitment will continue now and in the years ahead.
Bainimarama also extended an official invitation for Netanyahu to visit Fiji.
In December, Netanyahu will also visit Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, two Muslim‑majority countries.
He also said he plans a trip to West Africa soon.
