US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has canceled his planned arrival to Israel for today, according to a report. The cancellation follows earlier reports this morning that Hegseth was en route to Israel for his first official visit.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has canceled his planned arrival in Israel today, according to a report at 11:44 Jerusalem. The cancellation caps a morning of rapidly shifting signals that began with initial reports of a visit, followed by conflicting dates and multiple confirmations that he was en route — all now reversed.
The thread started with a CNN report at 02:20 Jerusalem that Hegseth would arrive Wednesday for meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz. Within the same early hour, a US official told Barak Ravid (N12) the visit would be Thursday (version 2), and a senior American official later confirmed Thursday (version 3). By 02:20, reports had moved the visit back to Wednesday (version 4). At 06:19, Channel 14 reported Hegseth was en route (context). At 08:50, The Zioneer reported, citing CNN and three sources, that Hegseth had arrived and would focus on security coordination and US military aid. At 11:37, a separate report said a “war minister” would not visit Israel, without specifying the individual — an early signal of the cancellation now confirmed.
The visit was set against the backdrop of ongoing US military operations against Iran and regional security coordination, as The Zioneer reported on June 15 when Defense Minister Katz spoke with Hegseth. The agenda was to include Israeli concerns over potential US arms sales to Turkey, according to Israeli media reports (version 7).
The reason for the cancellation has not been disclosed. It remains unclear whether the visit will be rescheduled or if the diplomatic discussions will take place by other means.
10 developments
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Source and signal
- Internal intake