https://arab.news/8ztzz
- Israeli leader’s claim Washington has been withholding weapons a ‘public stunt,’ officials say
LONDON: The White House canceled a meeting with Israel regarding Iran after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the US of withholding weapons on Tuesday, according to an Axios report.
In a video released on Tuesday, Netanyahu claimed he had told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that it was “inconceivable that in the past few months, the administration has been withholding weapons and ammunition to Israel.”
He implied the holdup was slowing Israel’s offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
President Joe Biden’s top advisers, angered by Netanyahu’s public statement, made a public statement of their own by canceling the US-Israel meeting scheduled for Thursday, Axios reported.
“This decision makes it clear that there are consequences for pulling such stunts,” a US official told the news outlet.
Another said the meeting had been postponed, not scrapped altogether.
Biden has delayed delivering certain heavy bombs to Israel since May over concerns about civilian deaths in Gaza.
However, Blinken said on Tuesday that the 2,000-pound bombs are the only ammunitions under review. He told reporters that “everything else is moving as it normally would.”