The Director General of Israel’s Ministry of Defence, Maj. Gen. (Res.) Eyal Zamir, arrived in Washington, D.C. for a series of high-level discussions with senior U.S. officials from the Pentagon, State Department, and the White House. The meetings are aimed at strengthening the strategic defence partnership between Israel and the United States, particularly in the context of ongoing security challenges in the Middle East.
As part of these meetings, the Director General met with Deputy Assistant to President Joe Biden and National Security Council coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, Brett H. McGurk; Chief of Staff to the United States Secretary of Defence, Derek H. Chollet; and Counselor of the U.S. Department of State, Tom Sullivan.
The Director General discussed with his U.S. counterparts the advancement of immediate and long-term procurement processes to maintain Israel’s qualitative military edge in the region and support the ongoing war effort and the defence establishment’s immediate needs. On behalf of Defence Minister Israel Katz and the defence establishment, he thanked senior U.S. officials for standing alongside Israel, for the administration’s commitment to its security needs, and for supporting Israel with weapons and ammunition during the current war.
In the meetings, Maj. Gen. (Res.) Eyal Zamir presented McGurk with a fragment of an Iranian ballistic missile intercepted by the Arrow system, which was jointly developed by Israel and the U.S. This was given as a token of appreciation for the strategic cooperation between the countries.
During the 14 months of war, the Israel Ministry of Defence made unprecedented purchases from the U.S. totalling more than $10 billion. The procurements included two squadrons of F-35 and F-15 aircraft, various types of ammunition, armoured vehicles, combat and protection equipment for soldiers, and more.
Additionally, the Director General thanked senior administration officials for the $8.7 billion U.S. aid package, appropriated by Congress in April, whose implementation processes were completed in recent weeks. The package is intended to finance vital procurement for the IDF and strengthen Israel’s air defence systems – Iron Dome, David’s Sling, and the high-power laser system, which is in advanced development stages.
The support for Israel, which intensified during the war, is an expression of the deep and long-standing strategic relationship between the countries and evidence of the U.S.’s strong commitment to Israel’s security and ensuring its capabilities. This is in face of the threat from Iran and its supported terrorist organizations in the region.
The Director General is accompanied on the visit by the Defence Attaché to the U.S., Maj. Gen. Hidai Zilberman, the head of the IMOD Mission to the U.S., Aviram Hasson, the IMOD Representative in Washington, Omer Haim, and other senior officials.
