Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi spoke a few minutes ago with his American counterpart, Secretary of State Tony Blinken, and congratulated him on taking office under the Biden administration. The Foreign Minister said that the two discussed regional strategic issues, the continued expansion of the peace circle, the Iranian threat and other issues.
“The United States is Israel’s great friend and a strategic partner in the peace process, regional security stability and economic aspects,” Ashkenazi told his American counterpart. “US-led peace agreements have created a broad peace coalition in the Middle East, and we must all continue to work to expand the circle and remove any threat that could undermine security stability in the region. “I am sure that together we will know how to act against global terrorism and any threat to stability led by Iran and its affiliates.” The two agreed to continue talking and arranged to meet as soon as possible in light of the restrictions following the corona.
It should be noted that shortly afterwards it was announced that the Biden administration had decided to freeze the deal to sell the F35 aircraft to the Emirates. As you may recall, the deal included the sale of an F-35 stealth fighter jet, signed by outgoing President Donald Trump’s administration. According to the AP news agency, to hunt down several more arms deals that have been frozen and will be investigated by suspected government officials, also a large ammunition deal with Saudi Arabia.
In a conversation between Ashkenazi and his counterpart, the two hardly entered the policy lines themselves but went over the pending issues between the countries, and especially regional issues. They noted Hezbollah’s extensive and problematic activities in Syria and Lebanon, the danger posed by Iranian aggression and the need to advance talks with the Palestinians.
In addition, Blinken stressed the administration’s position, which placed curbing Chinese influence at the top of its priorities. He said that the new administration sees Israel as an ally and that it intends to discuss the various issues with Israel before the policy is formulated. Ashkenazi replied that he hoped that everything would be done in coordination and cooperation.