The flow of US arms to Israel is critical to ensure IDF victory over Hamas in Gaza and to prevent a third Lebanon war, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Punchbowl News on Friday.
“Now, this is crucial. It’s crucial for our common war aims to defeat Hamas and to prevent an escalation in Lebanon to a full-fledged war to have this supply” of arms, he said.
Netanyahu spoke after he published an English-language video in which he accused the Biden administration of withholding arms to Israel. The next day, he posted on X, formerly Twitter, that US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew had assured him the arms would be delivered.
The White House and the State Department dismissed his claim as inaccurate, noting that the Biden administration has provided arms to Israel for its war on Gaza and that only one shipment had been held up.
Netanyahu’s statement has also been associated with reported delays in the bureaucratic process for the sale of F-15s to Israel. The fighter jets are only slated to arrive in 2028 or 2029.
“I’m aware that there has been a great slowdown in the provision of important ammunition and weapons. I’m not talking about F-35s or F-16s that are years down the line,” he said.
‘What is necessary now’
“I’m talking about what is necessary now to both win the war in Gaza quickly and avoid a war in Lebanon that, in the absence of such a correction, the risks of it breaking out are increasing,” Netanyahu stated.
He thanked US President Biden for the support he has given Israel during the war, including his visit to Israel and the provision of arms.
“We began to see,” he added, “that we had some significant problems emerging a few months ago.”
He and Israeli officials tried to resolve it with quiet conversation, including raising it with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during his visit to Israel last week.
“I raised this issue with Secretary Blinken. And I said that we are being told by our Defense Department officials that barely a trickle is coming in. He said, ‘Well, everything is in process. We’re doing everything to untangle it. And to clear up the bottlenecks,’” Netanyahu recalled.
“I felt that airing it was absolutely necessary after months of quiet conversation that did not solve the problem,” he stated.
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