US National Security Advisor secretly visits Israel

US National Security Advisor Tom Donilon made a secret visit to Tel Aviv last Saturday and held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Israeli newspaper (Haaretz) has revealed Monday. The White House did not release a statement on the visit until Donilon left Israel returning to the US, the Voice of Israel radio station aired from Haaretz. Haaretz reported that it was not immediately clear what brought about Donilon's surprise visit at this time, indicating that discussions addressed the unstable situation in the Middle East. A number of senior US officials have arrived in Israel over the last four days. In addition to Donilon and US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, US Deputy Secretary of State Bill Burns met last Thursday with his Israeli counterpart Danny Ayalon. Burns told Ayalon that the purpose of the US's new sanctions was to bring about a drop in the sale of Iranian oil.