Minister Benny Gantz will meet Vice President Kamala Harris and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Monday, amid tensions between the Israeli government and the Biden administration.
Gantz will also meet with Republican and Democratic members of Congress as well as with senior members of the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
On his way back to Israel, Gantz – a member of the war cabinet, a former IDF chief-of-staff and defense minister – will stop in the UK for a series of diplomatic meetings.
He informed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday that he planned to depart on Saturday night so that he could coordinate the proper messages to convey during his meetings.
Gantz’s rising popularity among Israelis
Netanyahu has yet to visit Washington since taking office at the end of December 2022, although he did meet with US President Joe Biden in New York in September 2023. Biden also visited Israel the following month.
Polls show that Gantz’s National Unity party is the most popular in Israel at the moment and that it would win 41 Knesset seats compared to 18 for the Likud, if elections were held now.
The visit also sends a message that Gantz is among the Israeli politicians who can speak with Washington.
Among the issues on Gantz’s agenda are a hostage deal and a normalization agreement with Saudi Arabia that would include a plan for the day after the Gaza war.
He will discuss a security arrangement to prevent Hezbollah attacks against Israel from Lebanon and a continued IDF military operation in Gaza.
Other topics will include strengthening the strategic alliance between Israel and the United States and support for the continuation of American military aid.
A US official said that “the vice president will express her concern over the safety of as many as 1.5 million people in Rafah.”
The Biden administration has been concerned about a pending IDF military operation in Rafah.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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