U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman told the audience at AIPAC last week, “America is at its best when it supports Israel,” and while visiting the soldiers now participating in the biannual Juniper Cobra 2018 military drill, he reiterated the statement.
Friedman toured the headquarters of the exercise together with the commander for U.S. European Command (USEUCOM) and NATO Supreme Allied Command Europe, U.S. Army General Curtis Scaparrotti at Hatzor Air Force Base on Friday (March 9, 2018).
Along with Friedman and Scaparotti was General Clark, who is leading the U.S. side of the Juniper Cobra 2018 exercises.
“We’re seeing the extraordinary effort that the United States is taking to help prepare Israel if God forbid Israel needs U.S. missile defense.
“It is an extraordinary thing to see some 2,500 American airmen, seamen and soldiers on the ground here simulating all kinds of exercises, all kinds of scenarios, and we’re really seeing in real time, first-hand, the extraordinary commitment that America has to Israel’s safety and security.
“It makes me very proud to be an American and it’s really an incredible thing to watch.”
Juniper Cobrai 2018 is the ninth in a series of biennial Juniper Cobra exercises conducted in Israel between the IDF and USEUCOM every two years since 2001. JC18 is part of a routine training cycle designed to improve the interoperability of U.S. and IDF defense systems.
