Napolitano Visits Israel for Security Meetings; Peres Praises Obama’s Leadership on Iran Sanctions

David Streeter — January 4, 2011 – 1:43 pm | Barack Obama | Foreign Policy | Iran | Israel | Terrorism Comments (0) Add a comment

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is visiting Israel to discuss joint security projects between the United States and Israel. She will also be observing Israeli aviation security measures at David Ben Gurion Internatonal Airport.

During a meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres, Napolitano reaffirmed the close bonds between the United States and Israel regarding security cooperation. Napolitano said:

The United States and Israel have a strong and enduring partnership, and the reason for my visit is to make sure that all the things that we’re doing in partnership with Israel—aviation security to cyber-security, to science and technology, research that we are undertaking together focused on security—that all of those activities are being done in a productive and robust fashion.

In addition to discussing security relations with the United States, Peres used the “useful and timely” meeting to speak about the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran. Notably, Peres praised the Obama Administration for its work in leading the global effort to impose sanctions on Iran because of its nuclear weapons ambitions. The Jerusalem Post reported:

[Peres] was also appreciative of the anti-terror efforts of US President Barack Obama and said that the president’s achievements in this respect were impressive, especially because he had succeeded in the difficult task of forming a coalition against terrorism that had imposed effective economic sanctions against Iran.

JTA also reported:

Napolitano visited the Western Wall and Yad Vashem, where she participated in a wreath-laying ceremony honoring the 6 million Jewish victims of the Holocaust. She also met with Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor, who is the minister of Intelligence and atomic energy, and Minister of Transportation Yisrael Katz to discuss threats from terrorism and the ongoing security partnership between the United States and Israel, according to a statement from the Department of Homeland Security.

Napolitano is just the latest member of the Obama Administration to visit Israel with the explicit purpose of focusing on the security partnership between the United States and Israel.

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