Israel open to teaming up with Gulf states on missile defense, official says

Shift in tone comes as Israel hails "successful" missile defense exercise in cooperation with Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency
Israeli soldiers stand in front of an Iron Dome defence system battery, designed to intercept and destroy incoming short-range rockets and artillery shells, in the Hula Valley in northern Israel near the border with Lebanon, on July 27, 2020. - On either side of the Israeli-Lebanese border, the language is military: The Lebanese Hezbollah movement asserts that anti-Israel action is "irremediable", Israel warns the movement that it "is playing with fire". But according to analysts, from declarations to actu
Israeli soldiers stand in front of an Iron Dome defense system battery designed to intercept and destroy incoming short-range rockets and artillery shells in the Hula Valley in northern Israel near the border with Lebanon, on July 27, 2020. - JALAA MAREY/AFP via Getty Images
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Jared Szuba
@JM_Szuba

Israel’s government has completed a major missile defense exercise and is open to the possibility of working with Arab Gulf states on collective missile defense in the future, a senior official said today.

Moshe Patel, head of Israel’s Missile Defense Organization, which operates under the country’s Defense Ministry, said Tuesday that no regional agreements are yet ready, but that cooperation with Israel’s Arab neighbors may be possible in the future.

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