US says it doesn’t know what Netanyahu is saying about weapons

The United States says it has no idea what the Israeli prime minister is talking about.

The Biden administration on Tuesday rejected Benjamin NetanyahuWashington’s accusation that Washington had “withheld arms and ammunition” from its close ally during the “recent months.” The Israeli leader implied that this was hampering his military’s continued offensive on Gazanow focused on the southern city of Rafah.

“We really don’t know what he’s talking about. We just don’t know,” said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, stating that only a shipment of heavy bombs was stopped since the start of the war, while billions of dollars worth of weapons continued to flow into Israel.

The White House denied reports canceled a high-level meeting with Israeli officials on Iran after being angered by Netanyahu’s accusation. A White House official told NBC News that details of the meeting have not yet been finalized, “so nothing has been canceled.” But they said meetings with Israeli officials were held during the week “on a range of topics.”

“As we said in yesterday’s briefing, we have no idea what the prime minister is talking about, but that is not a reason to reschedule a meeting,” said the official.

Also Wednesday, the United Nations human rights office said it the laws of war were likely “consistently violated” in the Israeli military’s attack on the Palestinian enclave, citing the use of heavy bombs. This new assessment came as some focus turned north toward Israel’s border with Lebanon, where both Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group have intensified their exchanges of fire and rhetoric as the U.S. works to avoid an all-out war.

Netanyahu issued his criticism in a video statement posted on X, saying he had discussed the issue of retained weapons with Antony Blinken during the recent Secretary of State meeting visit to Israel.

“I said that I deeply appreciated the support that the US has given to Israel since the start of the war,” Netanyahu says in the video, speaking directly to the camera in English. “But I also said something else. I said it is inconceivable that, in recent months, the administration has withheld weapons and ammunition from Israel.”

Netanyahu did not detail exactly which weapons were being withheld, but said Blinken assured him that the US was working to “remove these bottlenecks.”

At a news conference on Tuesday, Blinken said he would not discuss what was said during diplomatic talks with Netanyahu. But he said there was “no change” in the White House’s position.

“Our stance is, once again, to ensure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself against these many threats,” he said, as two top Democrats in Congress allowed the U.S. sale of $15 billion worth of F-15s to Israel advanced. after a delay, according to The Associated Press.

Blinken noted that there was “one case,” reported by NBC News in May, in which the U.S. disrupted a large shipment of offensive weapons about Israel’s plans to launch a military offensive in Rafah.

President Joe Biden threatened that the US would suspend further shipments of certain weapons if Israel were to move forward with a full-scale attack on Rafabut Washington said Israel had not crossed its red lines despite an intensified campaign in the southern Gaza city, which was once considered a safe zone.

Blinken said the government continued to analyze “one shipment” that was held up, but said “everything else is moving normally.”

Jean-Pierre, at a press conference, also said that the shipment of heavy bombs was the only one delayed and added that the US was having “constructive discussions” with Israel about the transfer.

Netanyahu’s office declined to comment.

The latest confrontation between the two allies came at a time when Netanyahu was facing growing domestic pressure over the fate of the war.

Israel has warned it may soon launch a new offensive along its northern border with Lebanon, amid growing hostilities with Hezbollah.

The US and France have been working on a negotiated agreement and Netanyahu met with US envoy Amos Hochstein earlier this week.

But the Israeli military said on Tuesday that “operational plans for an offensive in Lebanon” were “approved and validated”.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah published images it said were captured by surveillance aircraft from parts of Israel, including the sea and air ports of the city of Haifa.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz responded in a publish in X, saying that Israel was “getting very close to the moment of decision to change the rules of the game with Hezbollah and Lebanon.”

“In a full-scale war, Hezbollah will be destroyed and Lebanon will be severely hit,” he said.

Hostilities continued on Wednesday, with the IDF stating that approximately 15 projectiles were fired from Lebanon toward the Kiryat Shmona area in northern Israel, with no injuries reported.

It said Israeli fighter jets also hit a Hezbollah military structure in the Tire area on Lebanon’s southern Mediterranean coast, as well as “terrorist infrastructure” in neighboring Khiam.

This article was originally published in NBCNews. with