Defense Minister Ehud Barak visited Chicago on Thursday to meet with Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the former chief of staff for U.S. President Barack Obama.

Barak is in the U.S. less than a week before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be travelling to New York to address the U.N. General Assembly.

Barak did not officially announce his trip, which began as a private vacation for Rosh Hashana and now includes work meetings.

World leaders will converge on New York this week for the opening of the 67th U.N. General Assembly session.

Netanyahu and Obama will not be in New York at the same time, due to the Yom Kippur holiday on Wednesday, and they are not expected to meet.

According to a Maariv report, the head of Israel's National Security Council Maj. Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror has secretly visited the U.S., where in recent days he met with White House officials in an effort to reach certain understandings regarding red lines on Iran's nuclear program.