OAN’s James Meyers
2:00 PM – Wednesday, June 19, 2024
The Biden administration canceled a high-priority meeting with Israeli leaders that was scheduled for Thursday after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a video claiming that the United States was withholding military aid.
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Reports claimed that top advisers to President Joe Biden were outraged by the comments from Netanyahu that asserted the U.S. has withheld weapons and ammunition for Israel, with a senior Israeli official telling the outlet Axios, “The Americans are fuming. Bibi’s video made a lot of damage.”
As a response, hours after the video was posted, U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein personally delivered a message telling Netanyahu that his accusations were false and out of line.
Soon after, the White House also canceled a Thursday meeting that was scheduled to discuss Iran, two U.S. and Israeli sources told Axios.
“This decision makes it clear that there are consequences for pulling such stunts,” one of the U.S. officials said.
In his video, speaking in English, Netanyahu stated that it was “inconceivable that in the past few months, the administration has been withholding weapons and ammunition to Israel.”
Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre claimed that only one weapons shipment had been halted since the start of the war.
“We genuinely do not know what he is talking about,” she emphasized.
Additionally, multiple Israeli officials were already on their way and traveling to D.C. when the meetings on Iran were canceled, according to multiple reports.
This is the second meeting on the Iran strategic dialogue that was canceled last minute. In March, Netanyahu canceled a meeting after the U.S. declined to veto a U.N. Security resolution that included a reference to a ceasefire in Gaza.
Despite tensions between Biden and Netanyahu, Israel’s Prime Minister is expected to address a joint meeting of Congress on July 24th.
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