White House Rips Netanyahu for ‘Vexing’ And ‘Incorrect’ Comments
Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP
White House National Security Council Spokesperson John Kirby blasted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday for claiming the U.S. was delaying weapons shipments to Israel, calling his comments “vexing and disappointing to us as much as it was incorrect.”
Netanyahu posted a video clip to X earlier in the week saying, “I told Secretary Blinken it’s inconceivable that in the past few months, the administration has been withholding weapons and ammunition to Israel.” Netanyahu jabbing the U.S. for more financial and military support faster, sparked fury inside the Biden administration and resulted in the canceling of a high-level meeting with Israeli officials.
Kirby added that Netanyahu’s claims appeared to come out of nowhere “given that no other country is doing more to help Israel defend itself against the threat by Hamas and other threats that they are facing in the region.”
“This president put fighter aircraft up in the air in the middle of April to help shoot down several hundred drones and missiles, including ballistic missiles that were fired from Iran proper at Israel,” added Kirby. “There’s no other country that’s done more or will continue to do more than the United States to help… Prime Minister Netanyahu.”
Netanyahu’s comments also raised the ire of even Israel’s most steadfast supporters in the Democratic Party. Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) reacted by saying, “If you are looking to undermine the bipartisanship of the US-Israel relationship, then release a public video attacking the Biden Administration, which, despite hysterical opposition from the far left, has held firm in support of Israel for eight months and counting.” Torres added:
Disagreements should be had in private. Hamas is emboldened by even the appearance of a ruptured relationship.
I call out my own country, the US, when it fails to keep its differences with Israel private. I will do the same to Israel when it fails to keep its differences with the US private.
I have been consistent in calling out both sides, whether people like it or not.
No good will ever come from the airing of dirty laundry from either side of the relationship. In the present conflict, the only beneficiary of a ruptured relationship is Hamas.
CNN reported on Wednesday that US envoy Amos Hochstein told Netanyahu “in a meeting on Tuesday in Israel that his public comments this week that the US is ‘withholding weapons and ammunitions to Israel’ were ‘unproductive’ and ‘more importantly, completely untrue.’” Netanyahu has been under fierce scrutiny inside Israel since the October 7th attack, which happened on his watch, and has increasingly claimed that U.S. limitations are why Hamas has yet to be defeated.
