White House and Netanyahu clash over allegations of withheld weapons

White House officials are pushing back against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claims that the Biden administration was withholding weapons and ammunition from Israel, saying they don’t know what the prime minister was talking about.

Netanyahu posted a video on the social platform X on Tuesday in which he addressed the camera in English and called it “inconceivable that, in recent months, the government has withheld weapons and ammunition from Israel.”

Biden administration officials expressed confusion over the prime minister’s comments, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who met with Netanyahu last week.

“We, as you know, continue to review a shipment that President Biden talked about regarding 2,000-pound bombs because of our concerns about their use in a densely populated area like Rafah,” Blinken said. “This remains under analysis. But everything else is moving normally.”

When asked about Netanyahu’s comments, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters: “We really don’t know what he’s talking about. We just don’t know.”

Axios reported that the White House canceled a high-level meeting with Israeli officials scheduled for Thursday following Netanyahu’s comments.

A White House official told The Hill that the meeting had not yet been finalized and was therefore not cancelled.

“However, meetings with Israeli officials are being held throughout the week, at expert and senior levels, on a range of topics,” the official said. “As we said in yesterday’s briefing, we have no idea what the prime minister is talking about, but that is no reason to reschedule a meeting.”

The back-and-forth marks the latest example of tensions between the Biden administration and Netanyahu spilling over into the public as Israel wages its war against Hamas.

Democrats, including President Biden, are increasingly frustrated with the war in Gaza, where more than 37,000 people have died as Israel struggles to destroy Hamas, the militant group that invaded southern Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking another 250 hostages. .

The White House has for months urged Israel to do more to prevent the deaths of innocent civilians and aid workers in Gaza, and polls show growing frustration with Biden’s handling of the conflict.

A Harvard CAPS/Harris poll published last month found Biden with a 36 percent job approval rating on the conflict, down from 39 percent in April and 44 percent in October when the question was first posed.

Biden warned last month that he would stop supplying Israel with offensive weapons such as bombs and artillery shells if it launched a long-promised invasion of Rafah. But the White House said Israel did not cross the red line, even after an Israeli attack killed dozens of Palestinians in the southern city of Gaza.

Two top Democrats on Tuesday approved the sale of US weapons, including F-15 fighter jets, to Israel, after months of inaction on arms transfers.

This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story