Blinken insists US sending weapons to Israel ‘normally’ after Netanyahu criticism

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said U.S. military assistance to Israel is “moving as it normally would” aside from one delayed shipment of bombs, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the Biden administration of withholding weapons.

Netanyahu had earlier slammed the Biden administration in a video posted on X Tuesday morning directly addressing Blinken.

“It is inconceivable that in the past few months, the administration has been withholding weapons and ammunitions to Israel,” Netanyahu said, speaking in English.

“Secretary Blinken assured me that the administration is working day and night to remove these bottlenecks,” he added. “I certainly hope that’s the case. It should be the case.”

Blinken and the White House later denied that the administration is blocking any military assistance with the exception of a shipment containing 1,800 to 2,000-pound bombs that President Joe Biden had paused in early May over concerns that they would be used in urban areas and cause civilian casualties.

“We, as you know, are continuing to review one shipment that President Biden has talked about with regard to 2,000-pound bombs because of our concerns about their use in a densely populated area like Rafah,” he said during a press conference in Washington with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. “That remains under review.”

“But everything else is moving as it normally would move and, again, with the perspective of making sure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself against this multiplicity of challenges,” Blinken added.

The clash over weapons comes as the war continues to strain relations between Israel and Washington, with the Biden administration trying to convince Netanyahu to quickly bring the war to an end through a cease-fire deal with Hamas.

The White House said that it was not sure what exactly Netanyahu was referring to in his comments about U.S. military shipments.

“We genuinely don’t know what he is talking about,” said White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, reiterating that only one shipment of the 500 unguided bombs was paused.

Blinken said the U.S. will continue to process weapons shipments, noting that “it takes a long time to move these things.”

Alexander Ward contributed to this report.