Report: Israel Got ‘Almost Everything It Wanted’ From Netanyahu-Pompeo Meeting
by Algemeiner Staff
Jerusalem got “almost everything it wanted” from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting in Brazil on Tuesday with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, an unnamed senior Israeli diplomatic official was quoted as saying on Wednesday.
“Israel had 8 requests — 7 of which were accepted,” the official revealed.
The only issue on which there was a reported disagreement was the Trump administration’s opposition to a proposed sale by Israel of 12 old F-16s with upgraded electronics systems to Croatia for $500 million.
A focus of Tuesday’s sit-down between Netanyahu and Pompeo in Brasilia ahead of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s inauguration was President Donald Trump’s surprise announcement last month of the withdrawal of American troops from Syria.
At the start of the meeting, Netanyahu said, “We’re going to be discussing the intense cooperation between Israel and the United States, which will also deal with the questions following the American decision on Syria, and how to intensify, even further, our intelligence and operations cooperation in Syria and elsewhere. To block Iranian aggression in the Middle East, roll it back, that’s a common aim.”
Pompeo told Netanyahu that the pullout of US military forces from Syria “in no way changes anything this administration is working on alongside Israel.”
“The counter-ISIS campaign continues, our efforts to counter Iranian aggression continue and our commitment to Middle East stability and the protection of Israel continues in the same way it did before that decision was made,” he added.
Later on Tuesday, State Department spokesperson Robert Palladino said Pompeo and Netanyahu had talked about “the unacceptable threat that regional aggression and provocation by Iran and its agents poses to Israeli and regional security.”