Israeli media claims Defence Minister secretly met with King of Jordan

TEL AVIV (Ynet news): D-efense Minister Benny Ga-ntz recently travelled secre-tly to Jordan for talks with King Abdullah on Iran and other issues concerning the region, Ynet has learned.

According to sources, Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi has also met twice meetings with his Jordanian counterpart Aym-an Safadi in recent months.

In a conference call Friday with members of his Blue & White party, Gantz hinted that he had been in contact with Jordanian officials and said that Prime Minister Netanyahu was an unwelcome figure in the kingdom.

He said that he hoped relations with the neighboring country would improve. Jordan became the second Arab nation to sign a peace treaty with Israel in a 1994 ceremony on the border of the two countries.

“The ties with Jordan are a huge asset and could be a thousand times better,” Gantz said, claiming that he has an ongoing relationship with the king and senior Jordanian officials.

“Unfortunately, Netanyahu is unwelcome in Jordan and is hampering the furtherment of relations,” he said.

During the call with Blue & White members, Gantz lashed out at the prime minister, saying he was attempting to deal with the Iranian nuclear threat “as if it were his own personal property.”

He accused Netanyahu of sidelining the Mossad intelligence agency, the Foreign Ministry and even the IDF when it came to handling the Iranian threat.

“Mossad and the IDF have been displaying creativity, independent of Netanyahu,” Gantz said.

“We are building an offensive, defensive and intelligence response and will know how best to protect Israel,” he said.

The defense minister said that Israel must work to thwart Iranian plans to acquire a nuclear weapon through “an ongoing dialogue with the U.S. and Europe as well as with Arab countries that share our concerns and interests.”

He said that there must be a unified effort by Israel and its “friends” on this issue. Regarding the sale of sophisticated weaponry to regional states, which was the initiative of former president Trump, Gantz said that he has taken steps to ensure Israel’s qualitative edge.