Gantz visits Ottawa, Washington

Talks with Dempsey are expected to focus on Iran and will be a continuation of the meeting Netanyahu previously had with Obama.

By YAAKOV KATZ
Gantz meets with Canada's Gen. Walter Natynczyk 370 (photo credit: IDF Spokesman)
Gantz meets with Canada's Gen. Walter Natynczyk 370
(photo credit: IDF Spokesman)
IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen.Benny Gantz arrived in Washington on Sunday ahead of talks he will hold on Monday with Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The talks are expected to focus on Iran and will be a continuation of the meeting Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu had two weeks ago at the White House with President Barack Obama.
Gantz will also raise the ongoing violence in Syria as well as the uncertainty surrounding the peace treaty with Egypt in his talks with Dempsey.
On Friday, Gantz met in Ottawa with Canada’s Chief of the Defense Staff Gen. Walt Natynczyk and Defense Minister Peter MacKay.
Gantz also addressed a forum of senior Canadian defense officials and briefed them on Israel’s strategic standing in the Middle East amid the ongoing upheaval throughout the region.
It is Gantz’s first trip to North America since his appointment as chief of staff last February. From 2007 to 2009, he was the defense attaché to the US and Canada.