Jordan high on agenda for top US military adviser's Israel visit
Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford visited Israel and met with his counterparts there to discuss the Islamic State and the effects of the Syrian war on Jordan.
A little less than two weeks before US President Donald Trump's scheduled visit to Israel, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joseph Dunford, landed in the country. It was the third visit of "Fighting Joe" to the country since becoming chairman in the fall of 2015. On May 9, he met with his Israeli counterpart, Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot, followed by meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman and four Israeli generals, each representing a different military branch: Chief of Operations Maj. Gen. Nitzan Alon; Chief of Planning Maj. Gen. Amikam Norkin; the commander of the air force, Maj. Gen. Amir Eshel; and Chief of Manpower Maj. Gen. Moti Almoz.
Many issues were on Dunford's agenda during this visit to Israel, though his main task was to prepare for the arrival of the US commander in chief. Numerous sources in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, as well as Western diplomatic representatives in Israel, concur that the "burning issue" for the United States is the stability of the Kingdom of Jordan, considering all the problems accumulating along its northeastern border, especially with Syria and Iraq.
