Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin arrived in Israel on Thursday intending to voice U.S. fears that escalating tensions in the occupied West Bank could divert the allies of its efforts to counter Iran.

Austin, who is visiting the area, landed at Ben Gurion Airport for a visit that had been hastily postponed due to mounting street protests against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans to overhaul the justice system.

Hours earlier, Israeli forces killed three Islamic Jihad gunmen in the West Bank, one of the territories where the violence took place, as part of the stalled Palestinian quest for a state.

“Secretary Austin is fully capable of holding talks on both issues (the West Bank and Iran),” a senior US defense official said, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the topic. .

But Israel’s concern over the West Bank “prevents us from focusing on the current strategic threat, which is Iran’s dangerous nuclear advances and its continued regional and global aggression,” the official said.

Austin was greeted on the tarmac by Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and was due to meet his counterpart and Netanyahu at a nearby aerospace industrial complex.

Austin was due to arrive Wednesday and spend the night in Tel Aviv, where Israel’s Defense Ministry is based. But those plans were changed due to concerns about traffic disruptions caused by anti-Netanyahu protests.

Among the West Bank flashpoints of concern to the United States is the town of Huwara, where on February 26 a Palestinian gunman killed two brothers from a Jewish settlement, sparking revenge riots by settlers.

There are no signs that the violence will subside before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and Passover.

Since the beginning of the year, Israeli forces have killed more than 70 Palestinians, including combatants and civilians; during the same period, Palestinians killed 13 Israelis and one Ukrainian in seemingly uncoordinated attacks.

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