The US is deeply disappointed by Netanyahu’s criticisms

WASHINGTON:

The White House expressed deep dismay at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s criticism of the United States on Thursday amid tensions between the two allies over Israel’s war in Gaza.

The White House’s response came as national security adviser Jake Sullivan and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken planned meetings with Netanyahu’s two top aides to discuss the Gaza conflict.

Netanyahu released an English-language video on Tuesday in which he said Blinken assured him the Biden administration was working to lift restrictions on arms deliveries to Israel, an exchange the top US diplomat declined to confirm.

In a rare account of normally private diplomatic talks, Netanyahu also said he told Blinken that it was “unthinkable” in recent months for Washington to keep weapons and ammunition in Israel.

White House National Security Press Secretary John Kirby addressed the comments in a briefing with reporters, saying the US had expressed its displeasure directly to Israel.

“I think we have made it very clear to our Israeli counterparts through various vehicles that we are deeply disappointed by the statements made in this video and our concerns about the accuracy of the statements made,” Kirby said.

“The idea that we had somehow stopped helping Israel in its self-defense needs is not entirely accurate,” he said.

Also read: Netanyahu to ‘share the truth’ about Gaza war at US Congress in July

Israeli national security adviser Tachi Hanegbi and Ron Dermer, Israel’s minister of strategic affairs, will speak with Sullivan as a larger, more formal “strategic dialogue” meeting was rescheduled, according to a White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity. anonymity.

Blinken will meet with the Israelis at 3 p.m., according to a senior State Department official.

Blinken said the weapons shipments – with the exception of one of large bombs – were moving as usual, as Israel faced security threats beyond Gaza, including from Hezbollah and Iran. He declined to comment on his private exchange with Netanyahu during a news conference on Tuesday.

The United States in May halted a shipment of 2,000-pound and 500-pound bombs over concerns about the impact they could have on populated areas, but Israel was set to acquire billions of dollars worth of American weapons.

Scrutiny over Israel’s conduct of its military operation in Gaza has increased as the Palestinian death toll from the war has soared to more than 37,000, according to health officials in the Hamas enclave, and turned Gaza into a desert.

The war began when Palestinian Hamas militants stormed across the border and attacked Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and taking another 250 hostage, according to Israeli accounts.

Biden in April warned Israel that the US would stop supplying it with arms if Israeli forces launched a major incursion into Rafah, a town in southern Gaza that is the last refuge for many displaced by the war.