In another sign of growing cooperation between Israel and the US ahead of a new round of sanctions on Iran, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael Mullen will arrive in Israel on Sunday as the guest of IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi.Mullen, who has visited Israel in the past, recently met with Ashkenazi at a NATO conference in Brussels.He will meet with Ashkenazi as well as other senior IDF generals, including Deputy Chief of Staff Maj.-Gen. Benny Gantz, Military Intelligence chief Maj.-Gen. Amos Yadlin and the IDF’s military attaché in Washington DC Maj.-Gen. Gadi Shamni. He will also meet separately with Defense Minister Ehud Barak. Mullen will be received Sunday at the Kirya Military Headquarters in Tel Aviv with a formal IDF honor guard and will also visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem. According to a recent New York Times article, Mullen has urged Israel to hold off on attacking Iran and to give the new round of sanctions, expected to be imposed in the coming weeks, a fair chance.
