Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked US President Donald Trump’s administration for sending munitions he claimed had been held up by the previous administration, saying they would help Israel “finish the job” against Iran and its network of allied insurgent and terrorist groups.
Netanyahu has long expressed the urgency of opposition to Iran, its nuclear program and its proxies. They include Palestinian terror group Hamas, which Israel has sought to oust from Gaza Strip since war broke out in October 2023, and Hezbollah, which was decimated by an Israeli military campaign in southern Lebanon late last year.
Despite ceasefires in both Gaza and Lebanon, the Trump administration unfroze a shipment of 2,000-pound “bunker buster” bombs, which arrived in Israel last month, after they had been blocked by former US president Joe Biden.
Biden has denied otherwise withholding arms from Israel, despite the Trump administration’s attempt to classify the single blocked shipment as a “partial arms embargo.”
“Donald Trump is the greatest friend that Israel has ever had in the White House,” Netanyahu said in a video statement in English.
“He’s shown it by sending us all the munitions that were being held up. This way he is giving Israel the tools we need to finish the job against Iran’s terror axis.”
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar thanked Trump and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a post on X Monday morning, writing the decision is “enabling Israel to have the tools it needs to get the job done.”
“We are grateful for the expedited actions to enhance our security and ensure our defense,” he said.
The outpouring of appreciation came days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was publicly dressed down by Trump and Vice President JD Vance for failing to show enough thanks for arms and other supplies sent by the US.
Zelensky was booted from the White House for allegedly disrespecting the US leader, who has cozied up to Moscow and demonized the Ukrainian president as a dictator. In contrast, Trump has expressed strong support for Israel, inviting Netanyahu to be the first head of state to visit the White House last month.
On Saturday, Rubio said he had signed a declaration to expedite around $4 billion in military assistance to Israel, a day after the Pentagon said Congress had been notified of several fast-tracked arms sales.
The sales included 35,529 general-purpose bomb bodies for 2,000-pound bombs and 4,000 bunker-busting 2,000-pound bombs made by General Dynamics. While the Pentagon said that deliveries would begin in 2026, it also said “there is a possibility that a portion of this procurement will come from US stock” which could mean immediate delivery for some of the weapons.
A second package, valued at $675 million, consisted of five thousand 1,000-pound bombs and corresponding kits to help guide the “dumb” bombs. Delivery for this package was estimated to be in 2028. A third notification consisted of $295 million worth of Caterpillar D9 bulldozers.
Netanyahu made similar remarks about “finishing the job” against Iran with support from the United States at a news conference with Rubio last month.
Netanyahu said at the time Israel had “dealt a mighty blow to Iran’s terror axis” since the Gaza war began, referring to what Tehran describes as its “axis of resistance” — groups aligned against Israel and the United States, including Hamas, Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria.
Both Hezbollah and the Houthis began attacking Israel following the Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel on October 7, 2023, that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and opened the war in Gaza.
Fighting with Hezbollah escalated into an open war that ended with a ceasefire in November. A complex, three-phase ceasefire with Hamas began in January but it is in limbo, having ground to a halt after having only completed the first stage.
Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah all avowedly seek the destruction of Israel.
Trump, who returned to the White House in January, has said he is reinstating a “maximum pressure” policy against Iran over its nuclear program, mirroring his approach during his first term.
Iran has denied wanting to develop a nuclear weapon. But Western intelligence agencies and the International Atomic Energy Agency say Iran had an organized military nuclear program up until 2003, and continued to develop its nuclear program beyond civilian necessity. Israel contends that the Islamic Republic never truly abandoned its nuclear weapons program.