White House: Netanyahu criticism is ‘perplexing’ and ‘disappointing’
Washington: The US government has expressed its anger at statements made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in which he asserted that Washington is withholding arms deliveries to Israel.
White House National Security Spokesman John Kirby on Thursday called Netanyahu’s recent video message “perplexing to say the least,” “deeply disappointing” and “vexing”.
“This President put fighter aircraft up in the air in the middle of April to help shoot down several hundred drones and missiles, including ballistic missiles, that were fired from Iran proper at Israel,” Kirby noted.
Kirby said “no other country was doing more” to help Israel in its fight against Hamas and that the White House had “no idea” what prompted Netanyahu to make the comments in a video released on Tuesday.
In it, Netanyahu said it was “inconceivable” that the US had been “withholding weapons and ammunitions to Israel,” but did offer specifics.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who recently met with Netanyahu, has also pushed back.
Blinken said earlier that all arms shipments were moving as they “normally” would to Israel, apart from certain bombs that could be used in densely populated areas of Gaza. Those explosives have been paused pending a review.
Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden have been at loggerheads for months.
Biden and other high-ranking US government officials have made it unusually clear that they do not agree with Netanyahu’s actions in the Gaza war.
Criticism has been levelled in particular at the high number of civilian casualties and the humanitarian hardship in the Gaza Strip.