ISRAEL STUDYING STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES FOR THE

C O N F I D E N T I A L TEL AVIV 000690 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR ISN/WMDT AND T: TIM KATSAPIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/02/2017 TAGS: PTER KNNP MCAP PINR PINS PARM PREL IS SUBJECT: ISRAEL STUDYING STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES FOR THE GLOBAL INITIATIVE TO COMBAT NUCLEAR TERRORISM REF: STATE 21535 Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Gene A. Cretz, Reason 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) PolCouns called on MFA Deputy Director General (A/S equivalent) for Strategic Affairs Miriam Ziv March 1 to convey reftel request for Israel to become a partner in the Global Initiative. (Note: Given current tensions in Israel's relations with Russia, we decided not to coordinate our demarche with the Russian Embassy. Ziv confirmed that the Russian Embassy had not contacted MFA about the initiative. End note.) Deputy Division head Alon Bar and Director of Non-Proliferation Yehuda Ya'acov also attended the meeting. ¶2. (C) Ziv said Israel was very interested in becoming a partner in the initiative. MFA was leading an inter-agency review of the Initiative Statement of Principles, which Ziv said should be completed shortly. Ziv did not foresee any difficulty with endorsing the Statement of Principles, but she said Israel wanted to study it carefully to see where it could make the most effective contribution. ¶3. (C) Bar commented that about twenty Initiative activities had been indentified at the Ankara meeting of partner nations. He asked if the U.S. could provide Israel with the list of planned activities approved in Ankara to help the Israelis decide how best Israel could participate. ¶4. (C) Action request: We would appreciate the Department's guidance on how we should respond to Bar's request regarding the Initiative activities. ********************************************* ******************** Visit Embassy Tel Aviv's Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/telaviv You can also access this site through the State Department's Classified SIPRNET website. ********************************************* ******************** CRETZ