Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to address U.S. lawmakers on July 24.
Israeli Prime Minister appeared to double down on his claims that the United States has been withholding weapons deliveries for Israel’s war effort in Gaza, despite the
On Sunday, Netanyahu told his Cabinet that there was a „dramatic drop“ in U.S. weapons about four months ago, without specifying which weapons. He said only that „certain items arrived sporadically but the munitions at large remained behind.“
These comments come just days after he released a video in English last week after what he said were weeks of unsuccessful pleas with American officials to speed up deliveries.
„In light of what I have heard over the past day, I hope and believe that this matter will be solved soon“, he said Sunday, without elaborating.
A White House official told CBS News on Sunday that the administration has „made our position clear on this repeatedly and we are not going to keep responding to the Prime Minister’s political statements. We look forward to constructive consultations with the Defense Minister in Washington this week.“
Netanyahu’s video last week sparked an uproar among critics in Israel and was met with denial and confusion from White House officials.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby said last week that the U.S. was „perplexed“ by Netanyahu’s claims.
„There’s no other country that’s done more, or will continue to do more than the United States to help Israel defend itself“, Kirby said.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, „We genuinely do not know what he’s talking about.“
A U.S. official told CBS News this week that Netanyahu’s remarks in the video are apparently based on Israel Defense Forces chief of staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi’s belief that the U.S. is slow-rolling Israel on smaller-ticket items like aircraft spare parts.
However, the official insisted there’s been no such delay, except for the shipment of 2,000-pound bombs, which were about to leave an East Coast weapons depot by ship when the delivery was halted in early May.
