US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth held a secret meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during an unannounced visit to Israel on Monday.
A spokesman for Netanyahu confirmed on Tuesday afternoon that the meeting, first reported by Axios, took place. Doron Spielman said Netanyahu met with Hegseth at the Ovda Air Force base in southern Israel, where US fighter jets and refuelers are stationed. He said they discussed “the threats in the region,” and the US-Israel partnership in dealing both offensively and defensively with those threats.
Earlier, Hegseth confirmed that he had made an unannounced trip to the Middle East, but did not specify his location or travels, saying only that he had met with US troops while in the region.
It was not clear from the initial Axios report whether other Israeli officials or military personnel were present at the meeting, though later reports indicated Defense Minister Israel Katz attended but IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir and Mossad head Roman Gofman did not.
News of Hegseth’s trip came a day after US President Donald Trump endorsed Netanyahu in next week’s election — Israel’s first since the Hamas terror group’s devastating attack on October 7, 2023, which shook the country and plunged it into war in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran.
