The Washington Post reported that the United States has provided military aid to the Israeli occupation army worth more than $6.5 billion since the start of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip on October 7th.
Israeli Channel 12 also said that officials in the administration of US President Joe Biden reviewed with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant “line by line the list of all arms shipments to Israel, in order to respond to (Prime Minister) Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim about the Biden administration’s delay in arms shipments.”
Netanyahu had drawn Washington’s ire in the middle of this month after he released a video in which he accused it of “withholding weapons and ammunition from Israel,” and American officials said they had no idea what the Israeli prime minister was talking about.
But he returned and confirmed last Sunday that the dispute with the United States over the delay in the delivery of weapons related to the Gaza war would be resolved soon.
He said during a meeting of his government, “I greatly appreciate the support of President Joe Biden and the American administration for Israel – morally and materially – with means of defense and means of attack, but about 4 months ago there was a significant decline in arms supplies coming from the United States to Israel, and over the course of many weeks we appealed to our American friends to accelerate… shipments, and we have done this repeatedly.”
Israeli pressure
He pointed out that Israel had obtained some weapons, but another large quantity had not arrived, and stressed that senior Israeli officials had exerted pressure on their American counterparts “at the highest levels, and at all levels” in order to accelerate the delivery of weapons.
Netanyahu added, “After months and no change in the situation, I decided to express the matter publicly based on years of experience and the knowledge that this step is necessary to resolve the crisis.”
He concluded his speech by saying, “In light of what I heard the last day, I hope and believe that this issue will be resolved in the near future.”
The United States has sent large quantities of weapons and explosives to Israel since the beginning of the aggression against Gaza, according to Israeli and American data.
In early June, Israel signed a deal to purchase 25 American F-35 fighter jets worth $3 billion, according to a statement by the Israeli Ministry of Defense. Last April, Biden also signed an aid package for Israel amounting to $26.4 billion, including $14 billion in military aid.
