Mark Stone US Correspondent
We learned over the weekend that Israeli Defense Minister Garant is scheduled to travel to Washington this Wednesday for talks with US Defense Minister Lloyd Austin.
I found out that the meeting is closed today. cancel? Has it been postponed? It’s not clear.
What is clear is that it was Gallant’s boss, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who vetoed the trip.
A Pentagon spokesperson confirmed today that no talks will take place. They also confirmed that it was a meeting initiated by the Israeli side.
The Israeli embassy here in Washington has not commented (as of this writing), but this change in travel plans undoubtedly reflects continued tensions between Americans and Israelis.
The Biden administration has publicly expressed concern about Israel’s specific plans to retaliate for last week’s Iranian ballistic missile attack.
President Biden has publicly called on Israel not to attack Iran’s nuclear or oil facilities.
The suggestion from Israeli media reports is that Prime Minister Netanyahu insists on a phone conversation with President Biden and hopes his cabinet approves a plan to attack Iran before the Gallant talks are held.
A telephone conversation between the American president and the Israeli prime minister should take place with the click of a finger. It speaks volumes that this critical line of communication is so tense.
There are two big unknowns. The first question is what kind of counterattack Israel will choose against Iran. And second, whether Israel will press ahead with its attack even if the US tells it not to.
Prime Minister Netanyahu rightly expects the United States to always defend Israel militarily, even if that becomes necessary as a result of an attack on Iran that the United States did not sanction.
Recall that Prime Minister Netanyahu has been waiting for the moment to carry out a game-changing strike against Iran for decades. Having disparaged Iranian proxies in Gaza and Lebanon, he believes this moment has come.
