White House makes drastic move as Biden hits boiling point with Netanyahu

Furious White House officials reportedly canceled a meeting with Israeli officials to discuss Iran after Benjamin Netanyahu accused the U.S. of withholding weapons and slowing his country’s advance in Gaza. Netanyahu made his claims in a short video, escalating already heightened tension between his hardline administration and President Joe Biden .

Although Biden has delayed the delivery of some heavy bombs amid worries about civilian casualties, officials have gone out of their way not to accuse Israel of overstepping any red lines during its assault on Rafah. Netanyahu recorded the video on Tuesday describing how he told Biden’s secretary of state that Israel would finish the job faster if it had the right tools.

‘It’s inconceivable that in the past few months, the administration has been withholding weapons and ammunition to Israel … Israel, America’s closest ally fighting for its life, fighting against Iran and our other common enemies,’ he said. Biden’s advisers were enraged by the message, according to the news website Axios .

Two sources said U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein met with the Israeli prime minister to pass on their fury. Then the White House canceled the Thursday meeting with Israel officials to underline the point. ‘This decision makes it clear that there are consequences for pulling such stunts,’ a U.S. official said.

A senior Israeli official said the message was clear. ‘The Americans are fuming. Bibi’s video made a lot of damage,’ said the official, using a nickname for the Israeli leader. However, a White House official pushed back on the report and told DailyMail.com that the next meeting of the Israel Strategic Consultative Group had yet to be scheduled so ‘nothing has been canceled.’

‘In the meantime, meetings with Israeli officials are being held throughout the week at expert and senior levels on a range of topics,’ said the official. ‘As we said in the briefing yesterday, we have no idea what the prime minister is talking about, but that’s not a reason for rescheduling a meeting.’ Earlier on Tuesday, the White House said it was baffled by Netanyahu’s statement.

‘We genuinely do not know what he is talking about,’ said Biden Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre . ‘There is one shipment that was paused, everything else is moving.’ Secretary of State Antony Blinken was also asked about the issue on Tuesday and said the only pause was related to those heavy bombs from May.

‘We, as you know, are continuing to review one shipment that President Biden has talked about with regard to 2,000-pound bombs because of our concerns about their use in a densely populated area like Rafah,’ he said during a State Department news conference. ‘That remains under review. But everything else is moving as it normally would.’ There has been no let up in fighting after eight months of war, triggered by the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7.

The US has delivered crucial military and diplomatic support ever since the war began. Two top Democrats in Congress have cleared the way for a $15 billion sale of F-15s to Israel to move forward, after a delay while they sought answers from the Biden administration on Israel’s current use of US weapons in the war in Gaza.

Last week, a United Nations investigation concluded that Israel committed crimes against humanity during the war in Gaza , including that of ‘extermination’, while saying Israeli and Palestinian armed groups have both committed war crimes . The independent Commission of Inquiry’s report – the United Nations ‘ first in-depth investigation into the events of the war that erupted on October 7 – found that Israeli troops have conducted ‘a widespread or systematic attack directed against the civilian population in Gaza’.

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