MK Danon defends Gantz’s Washington trip: ‘Any meeting between an Israeli minister and US officials is welcome’

Likud MK Danny Danon defends war cabinet minister Benny Gantz’s trip to Washington today, after Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich accused the US of trying to divide Israelis over the issue of Palestinian statehood.

“Let’s set a few things straight – who the good guys are and who the bad guys are. On the good side it’s us and the United States, against the bad guys, Hamas,” Danon tells Channel 12.

The former envoy to the UN says he doesn’t know whether “they invited him or he invited himself,” but stresses “any meeting between an Israeli minister and [US officials] is welcomed.”

“We need to remember that we’re in the midst of a difficult war — we had a painful reminder from the north today as well — so let’s put things in proportion,” he adds, referring to an anti-tank missile fired by terrorists in Lebanon that killed a foreign laborer near the border community of Margaliot.

“We are grateful to the US for the support, though we don’t necessarily agree with everything they ask of us or say.”

Gantz is in Washington for talks with senior officials including US Vice President Kamala Harris, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, and Republican and Democratic members of US Congress.