“Certain items arrived sporadically but the munitions at large remained behind,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended his very public dispute with the White House over a slowdown in a the shipment of arms to Israel, noting that that there had a sharp decline.
“Four months ago, there was a dramatic decrease in the munitions coming to Israel from the US,” Netanyahu said during the weekly government meeting.
He spoke as Defense Minister Yoav Gallant was in Washington where the issue of arms is one of the topics on his agenda.
“In light of what I have heard over the past 24 hours, I hope and believe that this issue will be resolved in the near future,” Netanyahu stated.
“For long weeks, we turned to our American friends and requested that the shipments be expedited. We did this time and again. We did so at the highest levels, and at all levels, and I want to emphasize – we did so behind closed doors,” Netanyahu stated.
“We received all sorts of explanations, but one thing we did not receive; the basic situation did not change. Certain items arrived sporadically but the munitions at large remained behind,” he said.
“After months in which there was no change in this situation, I decided to give this public expression. We did so out of years of experience and the knowledge that this step was vital to opening the bottleneck,” he said.
“I expected that this would entail personal attacks against me at home and abroad, as happened,” Netanyahu said. He recalled that in the past he has withstood such verbal assaults when he took a stand against the Iran deal in 2015.
Similarly, he said, he has pushed back at the US when he “opposed the establishment of a Palestinian terrorist state, and as is now happening when I oppose ending the war while Hamas remains in place.
“But I am willing to absorb personal attacks on behalf of the State of Israel,” Netanyahu stated.
Pushback from the White House
He issued similar statements on Friday in an interview he granted to Punchbowl News. The White House and the State Department have disputed his claim.
Opponents in Israel have accused him of playing domestic politics at the expense of Israeli-US relations. A number of high level Republican Senators, however have backed him, insisting that the Biden administration was slow walking arms deliveries to Israel.
The issue has become acute for Israel as prospects for a hostage and Gaza ceasefire deal seem slim and Israel faces the prospect of protracted conflict with Hamas in Gaza and a third Lebanon War against Hezbollah.