Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman arrived Tuesday in Washington DC at the Pentagon for a meeting with U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis. Liberman is also expected to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
On the top of the agenda is the issue of Iran and the ongoing existential threat it poses to Israel. Iran is attempting to open a new front on Israel’s northern border in the Syrian Golan Heights.
The Islamic Republic already has established itself through its Lebanon-based proxy, the Hezbollah terrorist organization, which is an integral part of the Lebanese government and which has also become intertwined with the Lebanese Army as well.
Moreover, Iran has for many years generously supplied the Hamas terrorist rulers of Gaza, along Israel’s southern border, with weapons and other support.
Iran also patronizes the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist organization which has bases in Gaza as well as in Judea and Samaria. Hamas also has operatives in Judea and Samaria, a territory which up to this point has been under the governance of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, headed by Mahmoud Abbas.
Liberman and Mattis are also likely to discuss the escalation of attacks against southern Israel by the Islamic State-linked Sinai Province terrorist group in the Sinai Peninsula, in addition to discussing the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.