JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the Air Force base hosting a combined U.S.-Israeli military drill.
"I think the IDF and the U.S. Armed Forces are creating a new path, and the goal is to defend Israel," Netanyahu said Tuesday during a visit to the combined Israel Defense Forces and U.S. European Command exercise, Juniper Cobra 10. "Overall, the goal is to ensure peace in the region, and maybe even farther from this region. This cooperation has great potential and is very impressive."
Netanyahu visited the exercise with Defense Minister Ehud Barak and the IDF’s chief of staff, Maj.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi.
Rear Adm. John Richardson, the commander of the U.S. Joint Task Force in Israel, told Netanyahu that the 1,400 American soldiers participating in the exercise are feeling at home in Israel and thanked Ashkenazi for hosting them.
The Israeli officials were briefed about the American and Israeli systems used in the exercise, including alert systems, target identification, tracking and interception systems. They were informed that the exercise will include a live fire component and that it involved a multi-layered active defense system.
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