US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was in Israel on Sunday and Monday, where she met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and her counterpart, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
According to Netanyahu’s office, during a meeting with the prime minister and several other Israeli officials on Sunday, Noem “expressed unwavering support for the Prime Minister and the State of Israel.”
Netanyahu’s office said she also “expressed great appreciation for the Prime Minister’s policy of building a fence along the Egyptian border and for his conduct of the war,” a reference to Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.
Noem told Fox & Friends on Monday that she and Netanyahu discussed US negotiations with Iran, an issue where President Trump and the Israeli leader are reportedly at odds.
“President Trump specifically sent me here to have a conversation with the prime minister about how those negotiations were going and how important it is that we stay united and let this process play out. It was a very candid conversation,” she said.
“I’ve known the prime minister for many years and had many good conversations with him, but this was one directly from the president, and I think the prime minister greatly appreciated it,” Noem added. When asked what she meant by a “candid” conversation, Noem didn’t elaborate.
Noem held a separate meeting with Ben Gvir, during which the Israeli minister “thanked his counterpart for American support for Israel and for President Trump’s immigration plan,” a reference to Trump’s calls for the expulsion of the Palestinian population of Gaza.
Ben Gvir, who has previously been convicted of supporting a terrorist organization, is one of the leading proponents of the ethnic cleansing of Gaza and the establishment of Jewish settlements in the territory.
Noem also met with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar on Monday and attended a ceremony for Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, Israeli embassy staffers who were shot and killed in Washington DC on May 21. The suspected shooter, Elias Rodriguez, 31, of Chicago, cited Gaza as his motive for the attack in a purported manifesto.
