Netanyahu bars war chief from traveling to US, demands call with Biden first
The Israeli premier insists on speaking with US President Biden before Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant visits Washington for Iran war planning
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has postponed his trip to Washington, which was scheduled for 8 October, due to opposition from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who reportedly first wants cabinet approval for a plan to attack Iran and to speak with US President Joe Biden.
“We were just informed that Minister Gallant will be postponing his trip to Washington, DC. Secretary Austin looks forward to seeing him soon,” Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said during a briefing on Tuesday evening.
The Pentagon had announced on Sunday that Gallant would visit the US to “discuss developments in the region.”
Haaretz reported on Wednesday that according to sources familiar with the matter, Netanyahu wanted the security cabinet to approve plans for an attack on Iran prior to Gallant’s departure.
Israel seeks to respond to the recent Iranian attack on its military bases.
On 1 October, Iran launched a barrage of ballistic missiles at military targets in Israel in response to multiple Israeli aggressions, including the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
Yedioth Ahronoth reported that “Gallant’s main goal in his trip was to project a show of power from Washington in a play to deter possible Iranian attacks against Jerusalem following a possible retaliation.”
Netanyahu also insists that Gallant not travel to Washington before Biden speaks with him by phone.
Biden had stated he would speak with Netanyahu following the missile attacks from Iran but has yet to do so.
Netanyahu has been trying unsuccessfully to reach Biden directly, an anonymous Israeli official said, while a US official denied that Biden had rejected outreach from Netanyahu, the Washington Post reported.
Seven weeks have passed since the two last spoke.
In March, Netanyahu tried to prevent Benny Gantz, a member of the war cabinet and a political rival, from traveling to Washington for talks with top US officials.
During Gallant’s last visit to Washington in June, he met with US envoy Amos Hochstein and other top US officials to discuss the war on Lebanon.
Gallant noted after the meetings that “Israel is preparing for every scenario both militarily and diplomatically.”
One goal of his June trip was to resolve what Jerusalem considered to be an “insufficient flow of arms from the United States to Israel,” the Times of Israelreported.
“During the meetings, we made significant progress. Obstacles were removed and bottlenecks were addressed [regarding] munition supply,” Gallant said in a video statement from Washington.
Israel massively escalated its attacks on Lebanon in late September. In just one day, 23 September, Israeli attacks killed 558 people, including 50 children and 94 women.