Lior Haiat, the Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry’s deputy director general for North America, is in Washington this week for the first time in nine months, meeting with State Department officials and members of Congress.

Haiat, who has served in Miami, Mexico, Spain and Argentina in a nearly 25-year diplomatic career, met with Sarah Rogers, U.S. under secretary of state for public diplomacy, on Monday.

The meeting came at the suggestion of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, and discussion included conceiving and advancing projects that connect Israel to American public diplomacy, Haiat told JNS.

He declined to go into more detail.

The Israeli diplomat told JNS that he appreciated the meeting with Rogers, who is known for being outspoken and blunt.

“I like people that say what they think,” Haiat told JNS. “She has the right approach, and we had a great contact.”

The Israeli diplomat has been unable to visit Washington—since he accompanied Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar to the U.S. capital in August—due to the Iran war.

“I’m catching up,” he told JNS. “Many of the people I met last time are not in office anymore.”