Gantz meets US general

TEL AVIV (Monitoring D-esk): Israel’s Defense Min-ister Benny Gantz met with the head of the US military’s Central Command Gen. Kenneth McKenzie in Tel Aviv on Friday for the first time since the Pentagon announced that Israel was moving under CENTCOM’s purview.

Gantz lauded the shift saying it would “afford Israel opportunity to deepen cooperation with new regional partners and broaden operative horizons,” according to a statement from his office.

The two were joined at the military’s Kirya headquarters by IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi, who briefed McKenzie on Israel’s defense policy.

The defense chiefs also reviewed priorities and challenges shared by the two militaries, including regional threats such as Iran, Gantz’s office said.

The defense minister also thanked the CENTCOM commander for the US commitment to Israel’s security and for maintaining Israel’s military edge in the region.

Both stressed the “imp-ortance of the close collaboration and coordination between the Israeli and A-merican armed forces, vital to the shared interests of the two countries and to re-gional and global stability,” according to Gantz’s office.

Also Friday, McKenzie held a roundtable discussion with several members of the IDF General Staff, including Kohavi, Deputy Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, Military Intelligence chief Tamir Hayman, IDF Def-ense Attaché in Washington Yehuda Fuchs, and the head of a newly formed directorate specifically tasked with combatting Iran, Maj. Gen. Tal Kalma.