Defense Minister Yoav Gallant will meet Thursday afternoon with US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, in Brussels, the capital of Belgium. The meeting will be held in Europe and not in the United States due to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's refusal to allow ministers in his government to fly to meetings with government officials in Washington until he receives an invitation to the White House that has not come in the six months since taking office.
Gallant and Austin will discuss the Iranian threat, but the defense minister is not expected to focus on Israel's fear of the nuclear agreement because he believes that the decision on the issue has already been made in Washington, and therefore does not want to "waste" the conversation on it. The two are also expected to engage in strengthening military cooperation between the countries and in the continuation of joint exercises.
Hopefully President Biden doesn’t fall asleep in front of the cameras again, like he appeared to do when former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett visited. pic.twitter.com/oQSa09mpEs
— Daniel Cohen (@DanielCohenTV) June 15, 2023
Later in the meeting, Gallant will present to Austin the growing Iranian involvement in the region, including in Gaza and the territories of the Palestinian Authority. In addition, he will deal with the importance of projecting American-Israeli power abroad, with the aim of conveying to the Iranians that both countries have a reliable military option.
🇺🇸🇮🇱 — NEWS: Tomorrow, in Brussels, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant will have a meeting with Lloyd Austin, his US counterpart. The talks are likely to concentrate entirely on Iran. pic.twitter.com/b4b8KG9Gom
— Belaaz News (@TheBelaaz) June 14, 2023
Gallant is also expected to talk to Austin about the importance of maintaining Israel's military advantage, in the shadow of the changes in the Middle East. In Israel, it is estimated that Austin will emphasize to Gallant the importance of calming the territory in the Palestinian arena, as he did in their previous conversations, along with urging both sides to conduct new discussions that would promote the Two-State Solution.
Mr. @POTUS, again @netanyahu not to be trusted. BTW he's still preventing Israelis ministers from meetings in DC as long as he's not being invited. So Defense Minister @yoavgallant will meet @SecDef in EU instead of the Pentagon. Don't invite him. https://t.co/tz2HQUB27y
— Sima Aharon (@swon26) June 15, 2023
The meeting will be held in the presence of the head of the political-security division at the Ministry of Defense, Dror Shalom, the IDF attaché in the US Major Hedy Silberman, and Austin's advisers on Middle East affairs. After the meeting, Gallant will continue to Paris where he will hold meetings with several defense ministers from around the world.
“Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will meet with his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant Thursday on the sidelines of the NATO defense ministers meeting in Brussels to discuss #Iran, two Israeli officials told me.”https://t.co/wtNDSXgxdm #axiosfromtelaviv
— Jason Brodsky (@JasonMBrodsky) June 14, 2023
The news of Netanyahu’s ban on ministerial-level talks in Washington comes just after US President Biden invited President Herzog to a meeting at the White House. Sources in the US say that the official invitation to Herzog will go out in the coming days. Herzog was expected, regardless of the White House invitation, to visit the US in about a month and deliver a speech in the House of Representatives.
