Israeli PM wants Baltics to help change view of Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is meeting with three Baltic prime ministers in his quest to counterbalance European criticism of Israel‘s actions in the occupied Palestinian territories and to increase pressure on Iran.

Netanyahu will hold talks Friday with Lithuanian Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis, Estonia’s Juri Ratas and Maris Kucinskis of Latvia, and separately with Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite.

He said Thursday that Israel was “often mistreated by the EU,” adding there were “many distortions.” Netanyahu, however, welcomed the decision by major international airlines to end their direct flights to Iran’s capital, Tehran, in September after U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal with Iran and began restoring U.S. sanctions.

Netanyahu is on a four-day visit, the first to Lithuania by an Israeli prime minister.