Israel's Netanyahu meets with head of U.S. Joint Chiefs

JERUSALEM — America’s top military officer met Sunday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, pledging to work with Israel to meet a growing set of regional challenges.

The visit by Marine Gen. Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, comes amid growing instability in the region, including a civil war in neighboring Syria and expanding Iranian support for terrorist organizations. Israelis are also grappling with a new wave of violence by Palestinian assailants, who have carried out a series stabbings and other assaults in what could signal a shift toward a broader revolt.

“I’m confident that the solution to those challenges is our cooperation, and that’s what I’m committed to,” Dunford told Netanyahu at the start of the meeting at the  prime minister’s residence.

Netanyahu said Israel and the region face twin threats from the Islamic State and Iran, which is supporting Hezbollah and other militant organizations. The Islamic State, also known as ISIL or ISIS, has seized large swaths of territory in Syria and Iraq.

“Militant Islam is on the march, led by militant Sunnis, by ISIS, on the one side, and the militant Shiites, Iran and its proxies on the other,” Netanyahu said. “They’re threatening the entire Middle East but they’re also threatening Israel specifically.”

Dunford, who took the chairman post this month, pledged to continue to build on the U.S. relationship with Israel.

The United States and Israel clashed this year over the Iranian nuclear agreement signed by the United States and five other countries with Iran.

Israel had expressed concerns that the agreement, signed this summer, wouldn’t prevent Iran from getting a bomb or discourage its support for terrorist organizations, including Hezbollah, throughout the region. The accord, which provides sanctions relief to Iran if the country limits its nuclear program, took effect Sunday.

Dunford and Netanyahu acknowledged their countries were at odds over the nuclear deal, but they agreed to cooperate over dealing with Iranian “malign” activities in the region, said Navy Capt. Greg Hicks, a spokesman for the chairman’s office.