Yes, Peres also hopes to obtain freedom forPollard, but the president has a lot more than that on his agenda.
By GREER FAY CASHMANPERES meets with bereaved families in Jerusalem 370(photo credit: Koby Gidon/GPO)
Anyone who was under the impression that the sole purpose of President Shimon Peres’ visit to the United States next week is to receive the Freedom Medal from President Barack Obama is mistaken. Yes, Peres also hopes to obtain the freedom of convicted spy Jonathan Pollard, who is an Israeli citizen, but the president has a lot more than that on his agenda.Peres, who last traveled to the US in March, is scheduled to leave Israel on Saturday night and will be in America from June 10-15. His round of meetings begins in New York on Sunday, and then he will meet with top ranking representatives of the US media.On Monday, he will fly to Washington and will tour the Pentagon, where he will be welcomed by a military honor guard. Following the welcome, Peres, who is a former defense minister, and the key architect of Israel’s defense establishment, will have working meetings with Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey and heads of the various branches of the armed forces.Peres will discuss strengthening of the strategic political and defense alliance between Israel and the US.On Tuesday Peres will meet with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Long standing friends, the two will participate in a panel discussion on democracy under the aegis of the Saban Forum. The discussion, in the presence of some 200 major political figures, will be moderated by Martin Indyk a former US ambassador to Israel who is currently vice president and director for foreign policy at the Brookings Institution in Washington.Wednesday is Freedom Medal Day, but Peres will also have a presentation to make to Obama – the exchange of letters between Chaim Weizmann and Harry Truman at the dawn of the establishment of the State of Israel.The presentation ceremony will be followed by a festive dinner at the White House.On Thursday, Peres will meet with leading politicians in Washington and will also have a series of meetings with the media throughout the day. If he is successful in persuading Obama to release Pollard, the focus of his media interviews will be less on Iran and more on Pollard who has been incarcerated for 27 years. In the evening Peres will be the guest of honor at a reception hosted by Israel Ambassador Michael Oren who met with Peres less than a month ago when he was in Israel for the visit by US Secretary for Homeland Security Janet Napolitano.Peres will return to Israel on Friday. On June 19, the President’s Conference Facing Tomorrow opens; The Jerusalem Post Editor-in-Chief Steve Linde will moderate one of the panels.
