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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.

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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.”

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