Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed for the first time on Tuesday that the Biden Administration has been withholding weapons and ammunition from Israel as the Jewish State fights for her life with Iranian backed Hamas terrorists in Gaza and Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon, both proxies of the Islamic Republic.
The US suspended its arms deliveries after Israel announced the IDF would go ahead with its offensive in Rafah, where at least four fully functioning Hamas battalions remained, possibly with many of the hostages abducted from southern Israel on October 7th. Hamas has pledged — and already attempted — to annihilate the Jewish State and its Jews.
The move, an unwelcome ‘blast from the past,’ resembles that made by the Obama Administration in the summer of 2014, as Israel fought Hamas terrorists in Gaza after the abduction and murder of three young yeshiva boys by Hamas operatives in Judea and Samaria.
At that time, now-President Joe Biden was Vice President Joe Biden, then-President Barak Obama’s Number Two at the White House. Obama had an intense dislike for Israel’s prime minister, and a deep admiration for Israel’s enemies, particularly Iran, the Muslim Brotherhood and the Palestinian Authority.
Netanyahu recently met with Secretary of State Blinken as he has for months during Blinken’s shuttle diplomacy trips to the Middle East, and raised the issue of the delayed arms deliveries at a time when Israel needs them most.
“When Secretary Blinken was recently here in Israel, we had a candid conversation, I said I deeply appreciated the support the US has given Israel from the beginning of the war,” Netanyahu said in a video message released late Tuesday afternoon.
“I also said something else; I said it’s inconceivable that in the past few months, the administration has been withholding weapons and ammunitions to Israel — Israel, America’s closest ally, fighting for its life, fighting against Iran and our other common enemies.”
Netanyahu said that Blinken “assured” him the Biden Administration is “working day and night to remove these bottlenecks,” and commented, “I certainly hope that’s the case. It should be the case.”
The prime minister noted that during World War II, then-UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill told the United States, “Give us the tools, we’ll do the job,” and added, “I say, give us the tools and we’ll finish the job a lot faster.”
In response to Netanyahu’s message, Blinken issued a statement saying, “We continue to review one shipment that president Biden talked about regarding 2,000lbs bombs because of our concern about their use in densely populated areas like Rafah. That remains under review. But everything else is moving as it normally would move.”
The delayed shipment and pressure on Netanyahu to slow down the Israel Defense Forces effort to complete the war’s goals has negatively impacted Israel’s deterrence in the existential fight against Gaza’s Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists.
Pressure from the White House has also forced Israel to slow its operations aimed at finding the hostages abducted by Hamas and allied terrorists on October 7th who include American citizens. The Biden Administration has also slowed Israel’s operations aimed at eliminating the terrorists responsible for the slaughter of more than a thousand people, including many who were tortured, raped, mutilated and burned alive before being murdered.
Netanyahu warned that the reduced American military support, along with indications that the two countries are not on the same page, has encouraged Israel’s enemies — Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas — to continue their attacks, further escalating the conflict, according to a report published Monday by the German BILD news outlet.
Blinken has reportedly signaled the US is preparing to lift the suspension and resume its deliveries of weapons to Israel. If so, that would be a welcome message as the IDF gears up to fight an increasingly likely war with Lebanon’s Iranian proxy, Hezbollah, on Israel’s northern front, as well.
