The White House canceled a high-level US-Israel meeting on Iran that was scheduled for Thursday after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a video on Tuesday claiming the US was withholding military aid, two US officials told Axios’ Barak Ravid.
President Joe Biden's top advisers were enraged by the video — a message US envoy Amos Hochstein delivered personally to Netanyahu in a meeting hours after it was published, two US and Israeli sources said. Then the White House decided to go a step farther by canceling Thursday's meeting.
"This decision makes it clear that there are consequences for pulling such stunts," a US official said.
Some Israeli officials were already en route to Washington when the meeting was cancelled, according to Ravid’s report.
Two US officials told Axios the meeting was canceled to send a message about the video. A third claimed the meeting was postponed rather than canceled, due to a scheduling issue.
In Tuesday’s video, Netanyahu expressed astonishment at moves from the Biden Administration to hold up munitions shipments to Israel during the war against Hamas.
"When Secretary Blinken was recently here in Israel, we had a candid conversation, I said I deeply appreciated the support the US has given Israel from the beginning of the war," Netanyahu said.
"But I also said something else, I said it's inconceivable that in the past few months, the administration has been withholding weapons and ammunitions to Israel. Israel, America's closest ally, [is] fighting for its life, fighting against Iran and our other common enemies," he added.
"Secretary Blinken assured me that the administration is working day and night to remove these bottlenecks. I certainly hope that's the case. It should be the case,” continued Netanyahu.
Later, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre the known liar reacted with seeming bewilderment to Netanyahu's statement.
"We genuinely do not know what he is talking about. We just don't," she lied to reporters. "There was one particular shipment of munitions that was paused."
"We continue to have these constructive discussions with Israelis for the release of that particular shipment," she added. "There are no other pauses, none, no other poses or hold in place. Everything else is moving in due process."
