White House perplexed by Netanyahu claims that U.S. is withholding weapons

The White House, State Department and Pentagon say they don’t know what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was talking about when he said this week that Secretary of State Antony Blinken was working to remove “bottlenecks” that prevent arms shipments to Israel. But a US official offered an explanation for the Israeli leader’s accusation.

Netanyahu, in a video released Tuesday, said he told Blinken that it is inconceivable that in recent months the government has withheld weapons and ammunition from Israel.

The US has been analyzing a shipment of 2,000-pound and 500-pound bombs since May. As Israel prepared for a major offensive on Rafah, the Biden administration paused shipping because, as President Biden said in an interview last month, “Civilians were killed in Gaza as a result of these bombs.

“I am not providing the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah,” Biden said. However, the administration said the U.S. would continue to support the Iron Dome, the system that protects Israel from rocket launches, and ensure that Israel is able to “respond to attacks” originating in the Middle East. The Pentagon says the US continued to send weapons to Israel in the following weeks.

According to the US official, Netanyahu’s comments in the video are apparently based on IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi’s belief that the US is slowing Israel down on lower-value items such as parts of replacement for aircraft. However, the official insists there was no such delay, except with regard to the shipment of 2,000-pound bombs, which were about to leave an East Coast weapons depot by ship when delivery was halted in early May. They were about to leave an arms depot on the east coast by ship when the delivery was interrupted. Israel doesn’t need them for Gaza, but it would if the conflict in Lebanon escalates further.

However, the official also said, “The Israelis have not come close to achieving their goal of destroying Hamas” in the war that began with Hamas’ October 7th Massacre in southern Israel, of more than a thousand Israelis. There are hundreds of fighters and kilometers of unexplored tunnels left, and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is still at large, according to this official. As Israel does not have a plan for the “day after”, the current strategy is “a recipe for continuous war”, said the official.

Netanyahu’s claim about delays in US arms shipments comes as fighting escalates between Israel and Hezbollah on Israel’s border with Lebanon. Israel and the Iranian-backed group have been exchanging fire since October, but attacks from both sides have increased in recent weeks and threaten to open up a broader regional war that the Biden administration has been trying for months to avoid. This official believes that an Israeli decision on the possibility of entering Lebanon will take place at the end of July.

John Kirby, White House national security communications adviser, told reporters Thursday that the government was not aware of Netanyahu’s video in advance and said it was “disconcerting” and “disappointing.”

“There is no other country that has done more or will continue to do more than the United States to help Israel defend itself,” Kirby said.

In a statement released Thursday by his office, Netanyahu said: “I am ready to suffer personal attacks, as long as Israel receives from the US the ammunition it needs in the war for its existence.”