Newsletter
Newsletter Support JNS

Gallant meets with AIPAC in Washington

“The United States is the most important ally of Israel—and more central than ever before,” the Israeli defense minister stated.

US Israeli flags
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant meet at the Pentagon on March 26, 2024. Credit: U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Alexander Kubitza/U.S. Department of Defense.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant met with Howard Kohr and Arne Christenson, AIPAC’s outgoing CEO and its managing director for policy and politics respectively, in Washington on Sunday.

Gallant thanked Kohr and Christenson “for an important discussion at the start of my visit to Washington.”

“We are committed to ensuring a strong U.S.-Israel alliance,” Gallant stated. “The United States is the most important ally of Israel—and more central than ever before.”

Gallant is reportedly scheduled to meet with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken (at 1 p.m. on Monday) and CIA director William Burns, among other officials.

On Sunday morning, Gallant shared a photo of himself boarding a U.S. Air Force jet to fly from New York to Washington.

AIPAC thanked Gallant for the meeting but hadn’t said more at press time. The group has called the International Criminal Court’s decision to seek arrest warrants for Gallant and for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “disgraceful.”

The Mossad reportedly funneled captured terrorist arsenals to Kurdish opposition groups as part of an initiative to destabilize the central government.
“When journalists make these requests, they’re really made on behalf of the public, not to bury the issue and respond 11 months later,” Randy Mastro, a former deputy New York City mayor, told JNS.
“Under any Republican administration, Israelis are never going to be sanctioned for simply advocating against aid to Hamas or advocating against illegal Palestinian construction,” Eugene Kontorovich, a law professor, told JNS.
The USAID Inspector General’s office is “also working to prevent Hamas-linked staff from jumping to other aid organizations operating in Gaza,” a senior Trump admin official told JNS.
“Regardless of how it is ultimately classified, incidents like this send shockwaves through the Jewish community,” Rabbi Noah Farkas of Jewish Federation Los Angeles told JNS.
Prosecutors said the man caused damage to both facilities before sending texts boasting about the vandalism.