Office of The New York Times. Photo: Wiki Commons.

After Monday’s speech to the United Nations General Assembly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to meet with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and then head over to The New York Times for a special interview with its editors, Israel’s NRG News reported Tuesday.

The influential newspaper has taken a sharply critical editorial tack against Netanyahu for several years. In turn, Prime Minister’s Office officials have mocked several of the newspaper’s stances regarding peace talks with the Palestinians, and derided its enthusiasm for the Hitler-Chamberlain agreement, and its support for the US reaching an agreement with a nuclear North Korea.

The meeting may be related to the departure of the former chief editor, Jill Abramson, according to the report. Despite the planned get-together, Netanyahu’s office did not hang much hope on the chances that the meeting would end the often scathing critique of the PM, and Israel’s defense and diplomatic policies, overall.

Netanyahu and Ban last met two months ago in Israel, during Operation Protective Edge in Gaza. Netanyahu is also expected to meet with leaders of the Jewish Federations of North America. The PM’s General Assembly address was lauded by major American Jewish groups.

Netanyahu will devote the next two days to media interviews, and is set to meet with a series of senior editors and commentators in order to lay out his views, primarily the main messages presented in his speech: the threat of the Islamic State, and the dangers of a nuclear Iran. His office would not divulge the media groups he was expected to meet with.

In addition, Netanyahu is likely to detail his inversion of the standard trope of “reconciliation with the Palestinians comes before reconciliation with the Arab world.”

After the meetings, Netanyahu will hold consultations in preparation for his meeting with President Barack Obama in Washington on Wednesday.