ISRAELI Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could pay a lightning unofficial visit to the majestic Uluru during his four-day trip to Australia.
Mr Netanyanhu and wife Sara are in Australia with a business delegation.
A highly placed Canberra source said the visit was being considered to follow the footsteps of a family member who has made the pilgrimage to “The Rock.”
The NT News understands NT Protocol is not involved in co-ordinating an official visit but other foreign dignitaries have visited the NT before without their involvement.
Boris Johnson who was then Mayor of London and is now the British Foreign Secretary was spotted at a Jabiru service station during a trip to Kakadu.
Chinese President Xi Jinping made a hastily arranged visit to the Territory during the G20 in Brisbane in 2014 when he was vice-president. Other visits can take months to plan. Barack Obama made a 90-minute stopover in Darwin which was four months in the planning.
Nicknamed “Bibi”, Mr Netanyahu has a 500-strong security detail which rivals the US President.
Media reports out of New York said the security detail follows the Prime Minister everywhere, including restaurant bathroom breaks.
When Mr Netanyahu visited Cipriani restaurant for a “private” dinner in New York last year, the 100-seater restaurant had to fit at least 20 of his entourage at neighbouring tables while others took up guard both inside and outside the venue.
When the Prime Minister needed a bathroom break, 20 security guards went with him.
Israel has had a strong connection in the Territory owning up to five cattle stations — Bradshaw, Coolibah, Wombungi, Mataranka and Roper Valley — during the 1960s and the 1970s to secure its beef supplies at the height of middle east hostilities like the seven day war with Egypt and the 1972 Munich Olympics.
Bradshaw and Coolibah were the largest Israeli-owned properties.
Read the full article by Ashley Manicaros at the NT News (subscriber only).