White House slams Netanyahu’s criticisms as ‘incorrect’

The White House kept up its attacks on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the third day on Thursday, slamming his decision to publicly criticize the Biden administration. On Tuesday, he issued a video in which he revealed details of U.S.-Israel diplomatic conversations and accused Washington of restricting arms deliveries.

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said Netanyahu’s criticisms were simply ‘incorrect.’ ‘We didn’t know that video was coming and it was perplexing to say the least, certainly disappointing, especially given that no other country doing more to help Israel defend itself against the threat by Hamas , quite frankly, other threats that they’re facing in the region,’ he told reporters during a virtual briefing.

‘I mean, my goodness, the president put us fighter aircraft up in the air in the middle of April, to help shoot down several 100 drone and missiles, including ballistic missiles, that will fired from Iran-proper at Israel.’ The comments were ‘deeply disappointing,’ he added. It is a further sign of escalating tensions between Washington and Netanyahu’s hardline coalition. At the same time, Kirby announced that the U.S. is reprioritizing foreign military sales of Patriot and other missile system, freeing up production for Ukraine.

‘We know that Ukraine urgently needs these additional capabilities. We have continued to dig deep, provide Ukraine with a variety of air defence systems and interceptor missiles from our own stockpiles, including those of the Patriot system, NASAMs,’ he said. ‘Many of our allies and partners have stepped up in historic ways as well. Obviously, more is needed and it’s needed now.’ It means other nations will need to wait longer for deliveries, but Kirby said deliveries to Israel would not be affected.

Meanwhile, the fallout from Netanyahu’s brief video comments rumbles on. In the clip, he describes 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. 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.

As a result, 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 a 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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