Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was willing to “suffer personal attacks” if the US sent weapons, after the Biden administration criticized him for a video earlier this week that expressed doubts about Washington’s arms support for his country. .
“I am ready to suffer personal attacks, as long as Israel receives from the USA the ammunition it needs in the war for its existence”, Netanyahu wrote in his personal account on social media platform X.
Netanyahu said in a video on Tuesday that he spoke with Secretary of State Antony Blinken about the US withholding arms shipments to Israel, prompting an immediate reaction from the White House.
Blinken quickly denied the allegations during a press conference on Tuesday, while White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters: “We really don’t know what he’s talking about.”
Netanyahu’s response on Thursday came just hours after White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters that the video of the Israeli prime minister “was disconcerting.”
“These comments were deeply disappointing and infuriating to us,” Kirby said.
A high-level meeting between US and Israeli officials was not finalized after Netanyahu’s comments, in a sign of how quickly relations deteriorated over the row. A similar meeting was also canceled in March after the US refused to veto a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
The Biden administration is withholding 2,000-pound bombs and 500-pound bombs from Israel due to concerns about their use in densely populated areas of Gaza, including the southern city of Rafah, but Blinken said this week he was not aware of any others weapons shipments. paused.
Top Democrats on Congress’s Foreign Relations committees earlier this week approved an $18 billion sale that includes about 50 F-15 fighter jets to Israel. Lawmakers delayed approval for months, but were pressured by the Biden administration to authorize the weapons shipment, which will take years to reach Israel.
Democrats, including Biden, have expressed concern about the toll in Gaza, where more than 37,000 Palestinians have died in more than eight months of war.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
