Israel accuses close ally of withholding weapons supplies
The US has significantly scaled down deliveries of weapons to Israel amid the war in Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday.
Speaking at a weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu alleged that there had been “a dramatic drop” in US weapons supplies. The Jewish state has decided to go public with the issue after behind-the-scenes efforts failed to change the situation, he added.
“For many weeks we turned to our American friends with a request to speed up the shipments,” Netanyahu stated. “We did this at the senior echelons, and at all levels, and I want to emphasize – we did it in private chambers.”
In a video address last week, Netanyahu accused the White House of “withholding weapons,” claiming that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had assured him that the administration “is working day and night to remove these bottlenecks.”
Media reports at the time claimed that Washington had canceled a high-level US-Israel meeting shortly after West Jerusalem released the video. A US official told Axios that the move “makes it clear that there are consequences for pulling such stunts.” Other officials said the meeting had been postponed due to a scheduling issue, rather than canceled.
Blinken had earlier confirmed an ongoing pause on a shipment of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel, citing concerns about their use in densely populated areas such as Rafah. He insisted, however, that the White House is committed to ensuring that “that Israel has what it needs to effectively defend itself.”
Israel’s war with Hamas and the siege of Gaza have drawn widespread international criticism, including threats of sanctions. The Israeli government has recently experienced a steady decline in Western support due to the mounting death toll and deepening humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian enclave.
