Marcy Oster 01/17/2021 In another dividend of the recent normalization agreements between Israel and several Arab states, the US Defense Department announced that it would include Israel in its Central Command, or CENTCOM. The Pentagon announced the change in a statement on Friday, though reportedly there has been talk of moving Israel from the European Command to CENTCOM for years, and even more talk about it in recent weeks. In its announcement, the Pentagon called the move a “sign of the changing political environment in the Middle East.” CENTCOM, one of 11 US Defense Department unified combatant commands, is responsible for the command and control of all US military forces in the Middle East, including Egypt, as well as Central Asia and parts of South Asia.