Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu has defended his decision to go public about delays in the supply of military weapons from the United States, saying months of private discussions with the US government did not yield any results.
At the beginning of a cabinet meeting on Sunday, June 23, Netanyahu said, “After months of no change in this situation, I decided to give it a public expression. I did this based on years of experience, and knowing that this step is essential to extracting the cork.”
Speaking during the meeting Sunday, Netanyahu said: “About four months ago, there was a dramatic drop in the supply of armaments arriving from the US to Israel. For weeks we asked our American friends to speed up the shipments. We did it time and time again.”
“We did it at the highest levels, and at all levels, and I want to emphasize – we did it in private rooms. We got all sorts of explanations, but one thing we didn’t get: the basic situation didn’t change.”
Netanyahu went on to say that “in light of what I have heard in the last day, I hope and believe that this issue will be resolved in the near future.”
On Tuesday, Netanyahu said that the Biden administration was “withholding weapons” in a video posted to X, claiming that Secretary of State Antony Blinken “assured me that the administration is working day and night to remove these bottlenecks.”
In response to backlash faced from Israeli supporters, US envoy Amos Hochstein told Netanyahu that his comments were “unproductive” and “more importantly, completely untrue.”
Thr dispute comes amid the stakes around the war in Gaza and a potential further conflict between Israel and Hezbollah remain high.
The US is Israel’s most important ally and biggest supplier of arms but has voiced increasing concern over the mounting civilian casualties in Gaza.