Defense Minister Yoav Galant, as part of his visit to the United States, met today (Tuesday) with American Defense Minister Lloyd Austin. At the beginning of their meeting, Austin referred to the security situation in the northern sector and expressed his support by saying that “the United States will always support Israel, and give it what it needs to protect herself.” Regarding Hezbollah’s conduct, he added, “Hezbollah’s provocations threaten to drag the Israelis and the Lebanese into a war they do not want. Such a war could be catastrophic for Lebanon and devastating for innocent Israeli and Lebanese citizens.”
The American administration is very worried about the fighting that may develop against Lebanon and therefore they are “urgently looking for a diplomatic solution”, according to him.
In the same matter, the Canadian Foreign Minister, Melanie Jolly, today called on her citizens to leave Lebanon as soon as possible for fear of the development of the conflict between Israel and Lebanon. “This is not the time to go to Lebanon. For Canadians who are currently there – this is the time to leave, as long as there are commercial flights,” said the minister.
During the meeting, Austin referred to both the ongoing war in Gaza and the hostage deal, “We salute Israel for accepting the deal as announced by President Biden. The responsibility now lies with Hamas. Israel carried out a bold operation to free hostages, but the way to return them all is through a deal,” he said.
He also said that Israel “needs to be more careful not to harm civilians” and that he is “very concerned about attacks by Israeli extremists on Palestinians in the West Bank.”
In his words to Austin, Galant said that “we are at a major crossroads and need to prepare for every possibility in the north” and even thanked him for his support: “The citizens of Israel will not forget your and the president’s firm stand by our side.” On the existing challenges, Galant said: “In the Gaza Strip we must work to return the abductees and dissolve the Hamas regime, in the north we need to make sure that the residents of the north return to their homes after the change in the security situation at the border. We work together to try to reach a settlement, but we must discuss every possibility we need.”
In addition to discussing the fighting in the north, in Gaza and the issue of returning the hostages, Galant and Austin also addressed the situation with Iran. Gallant emphasized to Austin: “It is time to realize the commitment of all US administrations in recent years: preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon – time is running out on this issue.” Austin responded by saying that the US will not allow Iran to obtain nuclear weapons.
Regarding Israel-US relations, Defense Minister Gallant said that “we must quickly resolve the individual disputes as friends do, and strengthen the common stance – against the missile attacks and against the political attacks.”