Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and wife Sarah depart Ben-Gurion Airport for Lithuania, August 23, 2018. (photo credit: AMOS BEN GERSHOM, GPO)

During his stay, Netanyahu will participate in a memorial ceremony for Jewish Holocaust victims, an award ceremony for the Righteous Among the Nations, among others.

Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is flying Thursday to Lithuania for a three-day trip to hold bilateral diplomatic meetings with the heads of the Baltic states, who will also be arriving in the European country.

“I would also like to balance the EU’s unfriendly stance towards the State of Israel in order to achieve a more fair and genuine relationship with the State of Israel,” Netanyahu said before he boarded the plane. “I have achieved this through cooperating with groups of countries within the EU, Eastern Europe and now with the Baltic countries and of course, with other countries,” he added.

During his stay Netanyahu will participate in a memorial ceremony for Jewish Holocaust victims, an award ceremony for the Righteous among the Nations and additional events.

He will return to Israel on Sunday.

In September, 2017, Lithuania’s foreign minister paid a two-day visit to Israel and met with Netanyahu.

During their meeting, the two spoke positively about the countries’ relations.

“I have been invited to the summit of Baltic states. This is the first time an Israeli prime minister will visit Lithuania and the first time to be invited to this summit. This is an indication of Israel’s rising status in the world,” he said.

“We are, of course, interested in strengthening our economic ties with these countries as they wish to do with us.”

Lithuania has been a staunch diplomatic ally for Israel in the past, particularly at the UN and within the EU.

“In addition, the visit to Lithuania, of course, reminds us of the glorious Jewish roots that were once there before the tragedy of the Holocaust,” he added.

Netanyahu also touched on United States National Security advisor John Bolton’s statement that the US was not considering Israel’s claim of sovereignty over the Golan Heights, rhetorically asking, “that I would give up on such a thing? Impossible.”

Sarah Levi, Cassandra Gomes-Hochberg and Tovah Lazaroff contributed to this report.

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