Israeli Prime Minister landed in Beijing China Sunday afternoon and addressed a gathering of business leaders in the evening. He spent Monday morning at the Great Hall of the People with his Chinese counterpart, Prime Minister Li Keqiang. The two leaders signed several agreements to enhance economic cooperation. Meanwhile, a number of political issues await Netanyahu when he returns home later this week.

Media outlets active in Syria were reporting early Monday that Israel had hit targets in Syria belonging to the Lebanese Shi’ite terror militia Hezbollah, adding to the tense atmosphere on Israel’s northern border. The reports came a few hours after Israel’s Channel 2 reported that an Israeli UAV had struck a vehicle on a road in the Quneitra zone of southwest Syria, killing Yasser al-Sayed, a commander in the Syrian air defense forces.

The Palestinian Authority reacted with outrage Sunday following the removal of a report critical of Israel from the website of the UN Economic and Social Commission in Western Asia. The report, which had been blasted by Israel and several Western governments as being blatantly biased against Israel, accused the Jewish State of being an “apartheid regime” among other charges.

Friday saw a somber gathering in the Argentinian capital of Buenos Aries to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the terrorist bombing of the Israeli Embassy which killed 29 civilians and wounded 242 others. Iranian agents are widely suspected of being behind the attack, although Argentinian authorities have never managed to arrest any suspects.

Amidst a storm of blisteringly hostile rhetoric from senior Iranian officials aimed at a variety of governments and private interests the clerical regime in Teheran has poor relations with, Iran sent a letter to the UN over the weekend demanding that a clause in the 2015 JCPOA nuclear agreement be waived. The clause stipulates that Iran transfer stocks of heavy water out of the country if its supply exceeds a certain amount it needs for the production of electricity and medical isotopes, but the official said the numbers Iran previously agreed to are unfair and need to be adjusted.

The Middle East is already feeling the change. The U.S. is once again taking an active role in the region and, more importantly, Washington is once again standing by the allies and friends it had abandoned.

Ties between Israel and China embody significant growth potential for the Israeli economy that must be maximized while taking every precaution to preserve Israel’s strategic relationship with the U.S.