Obama Administration Commits to Ensuring Israel’s QME

Jordan Rohde — July 29, 2011 – 12:03 pm | Barack Obama | Foreign Policy | Israel | Military Comments (0) Add a comment

On Thursday, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta held his first meeting with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak since taking over at the Defense Department. Panetta made clear how important the nation of Israel is to the Obama Administration and affirmed the “warm security relations” between the United States and Israel. The Jerusalem Post reported:

Panetta told the defense minister: ‘The warm personal relationship between myself and Minister Barak will only help deepen the warm security relations between the two countries.’ Israel, Panetta said, ‘is a very important ally to the United States and we are committed to its security.’

According to AFP:

Panetta stressed his ‘strong commitment’ to defense relations with Israel and to ‘ensuring that Israel maintains its qualitative military edge,’ Pentagon spokesman George Little said.

State Department Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner discussed Barak’s meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday:

’[The meeting was] an opportunity to reiterate our unshakable commitment to Israel’s security and our support for Israel’s military and maintaining Israel’s qualitative military edge. It’s also a chance to talk about security cooperation between the U.S. and Israel, especially given the amount of change going on in the region.’

Panetta has been a strong ally of the Jewish community and of Israel. Click here for more information on Panetta’s record of support for Israel.

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