Bolton ‘an expert on the Iranian threat’

Avigdor Liberman and John Bolton were two hawks sharing a nest in the White House on Thursday, bonding over their contempt for the United Nations and agreeing on a tough approach to Iran.

Meeting in the new US national security adviser’s West Wing office, the defense minister came bearing a gift: a caricature of Bolton ripping apart the 1975 UN General Assembly resolution saying Zionism is racism. Bolton successfully led the campaign to revoke in the resolution in 1991, early in his diplomatic career at the State Department.

Bolton “is a dear friend of Israel and an expert on the Iranian threat,” Liberman said, according to a tweet

posted by Israel’s embassy in Washington. “We also discussed the complex situation in Syria. I’m happy that we and the US see eye-to-eye on the situation in the Middle East and I thank the US for its support of Israel.”

Liberman also met with the US special representative for international negotiations, Jason Greenblatt, and with Jared Kushner, senior adviser to the president. Kushner and Greenblatt are leading a White House effort to jump-start peace talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians, although Ramallah has refused to engage Trump’s team since the US recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital last year.

Liberman was also scheduled to meet with US Secretary of Defense James Mattis on Thursday afternoon. On Friday, he will address the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a think tank in the capital. •