6/22/2024
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Biden White House engaging in ‘monkey business’ with Israeli aid: Aaron Cohen | Watch (msn.com)
6/19/2024
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The United States says it has no idea what the Israeli prime minister is talking about.
The Biden administration on Tuesday rejected Benjamin Netanyahu‘s accusation that Washington had been “withholding weapons and ammunitions” from its close ally over the “past few months.” The Israeli leader implied that this was hampering his military’s ongoing offensive in Gaza, now focused on the southern city of Rafah.
“We genuinely do not know what he is talking about. We just don’t,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said as she maintained that only one shipment of heavy bombs had been paused since the war began, while billions of dollars of arms have continued to flow into Israel.
The White House denied reports it had canceled a high-level meeting with Israeli officials on Iran after being enraged by Netanyahu’s accusation. A White House official told NBC News the details of the meeting had not yet been finalized, “so nothing has been cancelled.” But they said meetings with Israeli officials were being held throughout the week “on a range of topics.”
“As we said in the briefing yesterday, we have no idea what the prime minister is talking about, but that’s not a reason for rescheduling a meeting,” the official said.
Also Wednesday, the United Nations human rights office said that the laws of war were likely being “consistently violated” in the Israeli military’s ongoing assault on the Palestinian enclave, citing the use of heavy bombs. That new assessment came as some focus was turning north to Israel’s border with Lebanon, where both Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah have intensified their exchanges of fire and rhetoric while the U.S. has sought to avoid an all-out war.
Netanyahu issued his criticism in a video statement posted on X, saying he had discussed the issue of withheld weapons with Antony Blinken during the secretary of state’s recent visit to Israel.
“I said I deeply appreciated the support the U.S. has given Israel from the beginning of the war,” Netanyahu says in the video, speaking directly to the camera in English. “But 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.”
Netanyahu didn’t expand on exactly what weapons were being withheld, but he said Blinken had assured him the U.S. was working to “remove these bottlenecks.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a state memorial ceremony in Tel Aviv on June 18, 2024. (Shaul Golan / AFP – Getty Images)© Provided by NBC News
In a news briefing Tuesday, Blinken said he would not discuss what was said during diplomatic conversations with Netanyahu. But he maintained that there had been “no change” in the White House’s stance.
“Our posture is, again, to make sure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself across these many threats,” he said, as two top Democrats in Congress allowed the U.S. sale of $15 billion of F-15s to Israel to move ahead following a delay, according to The Associated Press.
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Scoop: White House cancels meeting, scolds Netanyahu in protest over video (msn.com)
Israel is demanding that the southern Gaza city be walled off from a cease-fire deal with Hamas, according to four current and one former U.S. officials familiar with the discussions.
Biden halts arms shipment to Israel over military offensive in Raf
May 8, 2024, 5:39 PM CDT / Updated May 9, 2024, 2:25 AM CDT
By Megan Lebowitz and Caryn Littler
President Joe Biden said Wednesday the U.S. would not supply Israel with certain weapons and artillery shells if its military invades Rafah, a city in southern Gaza where more than 1 million people are sheltering.
If the Israeli military launches a ground offensive in Rafah, the administration will not supply “the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities,” Biden said in an interview on CNN.
“We’re not going to supply the weapons and the artillery shells used,” Biden said.
The move would mark a shift in U.S. policy toward the war, though Biden said the U.S. would “continue to make sure Israel is secure in terms of Iron Dome and their ability to respond to attacks.”
Biden also said Israel has used the 2,000-pound bombs — the type his administration halted in a planned shipment last week — to kill Palestinian civilians.
“Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers,” he said when he was asked about the paused shipment of U.S. weapons to Israel.
NBC News has reported that the White House halted a shipment of offensive weapons last week that included 1,800 2,000-pound bombs and 1,700 500-pound bombs, according to a senior administration official.
An Israeli official told NBC News there was deep frustration in the Israeli government over the decision as Israel’s military prepares to launch an expected ground offensive in Rafah.
The country’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, said the U.S. pause was “a very disappointing decision, even frustrating.” He suggested in an interview with Israeli Channel 12 TV news that the move stemmed from domestic political pressure on Biden.
Israel’s right-wing national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, offered a more hardline reaction. “Hamas ❤️ Biden,” he said in a post on X that drew swift criticism from Israel’s opposition leader, Yair Lapid, and others.
POLITICS NEWS
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the country’s military would enter the city “with or without” a deal with Hamas.
Israel demands that Rafah be walled off from a cease-fire deal, according to four current and one former U.S. officials familiar with the discussions.
Netanyahu’s government refuses to agree to a deal unless it can move forward with military operations in Rafah, even during a cease-fire, the officials said.
An Israeli official denied that characterization, citing recent remarks by Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who said, “This operation will continue until we eliminate Hamas in the Rafah area and the entire Gaza Strip or until the first hostage returns.”
Biden has reiterated his opposition to the Rafah offensive in calls with Netanyahu, according to White House readouts of their ‘ conversations.
Biden also touched on his administration’s work with Arab states regarding the Israel-Hamas war, saying in the CNN interview that “five leaders in the Arab community were prepared to help rebuild Gaza, prepared to help transition to a two-state solution.”
Asked for clarity about whether the leaders would help govern the area, Biden said they would work to “maintain the security and peace while they’re working out a Palestinian Authority that’s real and not corrupt.”
Megan Lebowitz is a politics reporter for NBC News.
Courtney Kube, Carol E. Lee, Andrea Mitchell, Raf Sanchez and The Associated Press contributed.
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