TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is in Israel for his first visit as Pentagon chief, and on Sunday he met with his Israeli counterpart. Austin says there’s an “enduring and ironclad” American commitment to Israel as he reinforced support at a tense time in Israeli politics and amid questions about the Biden administration’s efforts to revive nuclear negotiations with Israel’s archenemy, Iran. The United States is seeking to leverage Middle East diplomatic progress made by the Trump administration, which brokered a deal normalizing relations between Israel and several Arab states.
