Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant cancels Pentagon visit

The cancelled trip comes as the region braces for Israel’s response to Iran’s missile attack.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has cancelled plans to meet United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin as the region braces for an expected response by Israel to Iran’s missile attack last week.

A spokesperson for the Pentagon confirmed on Tuesday that Gallant had called off his visit.

The Pentagon declined to comment on reports that the trip was dropped because Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to sign off on it until he gets “a phone call” with President Joe Biden, and the Israeli cabinet approves the response to Iran.

“I am going to stay out of Israeli politics,” Sabrina Singh, a Pentagon spokesperson, told reporters at a news briefing. “I wouldn’t read too much into it.”

Austin and Gallant have a “great relationship” and have spoken more than 80 times, Singh added.

“You can have frank … direct conversations with your friends. You’re not always going to agree on everything but that doesn’t mean that there’s tensions,” she said.

Austin also put off a scheduled trip to Israel last month as Israel stepped up its attacks on Lebanon.

Before that escalation, Israeli media had widely reported that Netanyahu was preparing to fire Gallant, with whom he has long had a tense relationship. Netanyahu had already fired the defence minister in 2023 before reversing course following intense public pressure.

Biden has previously said that the US would not support an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear sites, adding that, “They have a right to respond, but they should respond proportionally.”

Israeli officials told their US counterparts last week that they were still finalising targets, timing and means for a response. NBC News reported on Tuesday that Israel had not yet briefed Washington with more specific details of the plans.

The US was not told in advance about the Israeli strike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah last month and Austin only learned of the operation on a phone call with Gallant once it was under way.

That has raised questions about the US ability, or willingness, to influence its close ally’s decisions, even as US officials have continued to pledge support for Israel and have not excluded backing its retaliation against Iran with intelligence or air strikes of their own.

But Ori Goldberg, a political analyst based in Israel, said the last-minute postponement might indicate the strike on Iran is also on hold.

“It’s not surprising that this is coming from Netanyahu: he announces, and then he edges,” Goldberg told Al Jazeera.

“Gallant was supposed to go the United States to finalise [the strike on Iran] with Defense Secretary Austin. Netanyahu is both being contrarian and making sure that the Americans understand that he’s calling the shots — so he gets some PR from this — but effectively, he’s also delaying the strike.”