US General Martin Dempsey
Photo: AFP
Top US general to visit Israel amid strategy spats
General Martin Dempsey will meet Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon in Jerusalem after the latter angered Washington by criticizing its strategies in the Middle East and Ukraine.
The United States' top military officer will visit Israel next week where he will meet the defense minister who has angered Washington by criticizing its strategies in the Middle East and Ukraine.
General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, will meet Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon in Jerusalem on Sunday.
The US State Department has said it is disappointed Ya'alon has not apologized for remarks he made at a closed-door meeting this month ridiculing Secretary of State John Kerry's push for an Israeli-Palestinian peace accord and saying that Washington's handling of the Ukraine crisis projected weakness.
Neither the US embassy nor the Israeli military, Dempsey's hosts, had published a full itinerary for the visit as of Saturday morning. One Israeli official briefed on the trip said it was likely to last until Tuesday and Dempsey may not make any public appearances.
In remarks that were leaked to the media, Ya'alon, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party, suggested that Israel, should it lose faith in Washington, might have to make good on a long-standing threat to attack Iran's nuclear program unilaterally.
He responded to Washington's condemnation by saying he valued the alliance, but stopped short of apologizing.
