There is a report claiming that National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster yelled at an Israeli delegation for being concerned about the activities of Hezbollah.
According to David Steinberg of PJ Media, during the last week of August an Israeli delegation met with White House officials to discuss Hezbollah, which Israel currently views as a dire threat. One of the attendees was Mustafa Javed Ali, the National Security Council (NSC) Senior Director on Counter-Terrorism, who is opposed to Hezbollah and the Muslim Brotherhood being designated as terror organizations and was the driving force behind uninviting Ayaan Hirsi Ali from speaking before the NSC.
Naturally, the Israelis were enraged that Javed Ali was attending the meeting and demanded that he leave. It went downhill from there:
Sources reported that McMaster went on to explicitly dismiss the Israelis’ specific concerns about Hezbollah.
In particular, the Israelis expressed concern that the “safe zone” currently being established within Syria — an idea that had been vociferously supported by Hezbollah’s sponsor, Iran — would immediately become a safe zone for Hezbollah to operate.
McMaster was said to “blow off” this major Israeli concern, and to be “yelling at the Israelis” during the meeting.
Israel National News picked up on the report and noted that the Israeli officials present at the meeting “included Mossad chief Yossi Cohen, the Israel Defense Forces Military Intelligence head Maj. Gen. Herzl Halevi, and Zohar Palti, who heads the Defense Ministry’s political-security department.”
However, the Israel National News report does point out that “top Israeli officials” have defended McMaster against claims that he is anti-Israel. That doesn’t change the fact that McMaster’s statements and actions seem to form an anti-Israel pattern.
If true, the report about McMaster shouting at Israeli officials for being concerned about Hezbollah is quite disturbing. Even though Hezbollah, the Iranian proxy terror group, is bogged down in fighting in Yemen, Iraq, and Syria, they have strengthened since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War to the point where they have become “the most imminent challenge on the horizon for the IDF.”
McMaster should be making it clear to Israel that the United States has their back in the event of another Israel-Hezbollah war, not yelling at them.