Foreign Ministry Director-General Aharon Abramovitch convened a special meeting in Washington Wednesday with Israel's top representatives in the US and Canada to discuss Iran. The Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman refused to discuss the content of the two-day meeting, or what prompted it, other than saying "the Iranian issue is at the top of Israel's diplomatic agenda." Among those at the meeting were Israel's ambassador to the US, Sallai Meridor; the ambassador to the UN, the envoy to Canada, Alan Baker; the top diplomatic staff at the embassy in Washington and the heads of consulates in the US and Canada. Abramovitch was joined by Yossi Gal, the ministry's deputy director-general. The meeting comes amid the current debate in the international community about whether further sanctions should be imposed on Iran, a policy favored by the US and France, but opposed by Russia and China. While another UN Security Council resolution against the Islamic Republic has been stalled, momentum is picking up ahead of the international peace meeting between Israelis and Palestinian scheduled for later this fall. Israeli sources pointed to the confluence of events surrounding the meeting. An Israeli official described the briefings as an opportunity for "regrouping" among the Israeli diplomats, who include new appointees since the last such session at the beginning of the year, but said "it's not designed to reinvent the wheel." While the Iranian threat continues to be a top priority, the official pointed to other topics to be covered, including the implications of the upcoming US presidential elections, Jewish community issues and American public opinion towards Israel.
