Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is traveling through the United States this week for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) annual conference, and he is scheduled to meet with Apple CEO Tim Cook today. The meeting plans were revealed on the Prime Minister’s Twitter account earlier this week:

The calendar also sharesthat Netanyahu is scheduled to meet with the founders of WhatsApp, who recently sold their messaging service to Facebook for $19 billion. Local press reports indicate that the meeting with Cook is occurring as scheduled, and that the men will be having lunch at Apple’s corporate offices in Cupertino, California:

Apple executives occasionally meet with the leaders of nations from the around the world. In recent months, several reports have detailed meetings between Cook and Turkish government leaders.

Netanyahu lunching with Tim Cook at Apple, then headed to #Stanford where he will meet President Hennessy and do some national TV interviews

— Janine Zacharia (@janinezacharia) March 5, 2014

Even without official online or physical retail sales channels, Apple and Israel have had a strong relationship for the past few years. In early 2012, Apple acquired Israel-based chip maker Anobit, and this kickstarted Apple’s research and development efforts in the nation. Apple has multiple engineering offices in Israel, and Apple research and development executives have visited the country.

Late last year, Apple acquired Israel-based PrimeSense, a company which specializes in developing 3D gesture motion sensing hardware and software. The engineers who joined Apple from PrimeSense are working on camera hardware for future iOS devices and TV products, according to sources briefed on Apple’s plans.

Even with the already-existing relationship between Apple and Israel, the technology company and the technologically-advanced nation can work even further together. Israel is known for being the home to the creation of many technological innovations, and perhaps Cook and Netanyahu see ways for further collaboration. It is also likely that Cook and Netanyahu are discussing the prospect of official Apple Stores for Israel.

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(Image via Getty Images, thanks Tom for the lead)