Shalev, who has familiarized herself with the Iranian issue, got a few more pointers from Peres during her meeting with the President on Sunday.
By GREER FAY CASHMANUnited Nations AP 298.88(photo credit: Associated Press)
Gabriela Shalev, Israel's incoming ambassador to the United Nations, met with President Shimon Peres on Sunday and said she intends to represent the country at the UN General Assembly this month.
Although the working meeting was strictly tete-a-tete, without any of the president's aides present in the room, Shalev, when asked by The Jerusalem Post whether she intended to be in New York on September 23, replied, "I intend to be there tomorrow [Monday]."
September 23 is the date for the convening of the 63rd session of the UN General Assembly, where the Iranian nuclear program is set to be the central issue. Because of the political upheavals in Israel and the Kadima primaries on September 17, it is unclear whether Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will be representing Israel as was originally planned.
Shalev, who has familiarized herself with the Iranian issue, got a few more pointers from Peres, who has made a point of telling the world, both via visiting dignitaries and in the course of his own official visits abroad, that the Iranian nuclear program is a threat not only to Israel but to the world at large.
Depending on what happens politically in Israel within the next three weeks, it may well be Shalev who defends Israel's interests at the UN General Assembly rather than Olmert, Peres or Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.
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