Gallant, US declare progress on expediting arms delivery, but bomb shipment still frozen
White House acknowledges ‘bottlenecks’ for 1st time, but stops short of PM’s claim it’s withholding weapons; Gallant stresses need to settle disputes privately, in jab at Netanyahu
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and US President Joe Biden’s administration announced separately Wednesday that progress had been made toward resolving what Jerusalem considers to be an insufficient flow of arms from the United States to Israel.
“During the meetings, we made significant progress. Obstacles were removed and bottlenecks were addressed… [regarding] munition supply,” Gallant said in a video statement from Washington in which he summed up four days of meetings with top US officials.
In a subsequent briefing with reporters, a senior Biden administration official largely echoed Gallant’s remarks, confirming for the first time that there had been some “bottlenecks” in weapons transfers that are now being addressed.
The official clarified that these bottlenecks weren’t intentional and that Gallant’s meetings with top officials in Washington were an opportunity for the US to order the acceleration of certain shipments while reprioritizing others based on Israel’s needs.
The comments were the closest the administration has come to confirming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s public claim last week that the US has been “withholding” weapons shipments and that there had been a “dramatic drop” in transfers. The accusation made in a video statement infuriated Washington, which vociferously denied the assertion and insisted that it has only held one transfer of heavy bombs that Biden didn’t want the IDF using in the densely populated Palestinian city of Rafah.
In his Wednesday video statement, Gallant criticized Netanyahu for publicly airing his grievances on the matter, rather than settling the issue privately.
Held an important discussion with NSA @JakeSullivan46 on strategic issues and critical cooperation.Made significant progress in addressing force build-up and supply to Israel.
Thank you Mr.Sullivan for your leadership and true friendship.
The U.S. and Israel stand together. pic.twitter.com/TykEA3A0m1— יואב גלנט – Yoav Gallant (@yoavgallant) June 26, 2024
“In every family — and we consider the American people our family — disagreements may arise. Yet like all families, we discuss our disagreements in-house and remain united, Gallant said.
Netanyahu’s office shot back with a statement claiming the premier had sought to resolve the issue privately for weeks before making the decision to go public.
“When disagreements aren’t resolved privately after many weeks, the prime minister of Israel must speak openly to bring our soldiers what they need,” said the statement.
Over a week since the video from Netanyahu, the White House was still clearly seething.
The senior administration official briefing reporters made a point of hailing Gallant’s “professional approach” in advancing the US-Israel security partnership, adding that Washington “recognized Minister Gallant’s personal efforts and leadership.”
Twice asked whether the US was putting the dispute with Netanyahu behind it, the administration official avoided answering.
Confirming reporting in the Axios news site, a second US official told The Times of Israel that Netanyahu’s video last week set back efforts to unfreeze the shipment of high-payload bombs, with the administration unwilling to be seen as taking orders from the premier.
The first senior administration official said that the sides agreed to have their national security experts consult on the issue, while clarifying that Biden’s concerns about how they might be used by the IDF are “valid.”
As for other weapons shipments, the senior administration official said, “There are some things we are able to maybe pull up a little faster or reprioritize.”
“The progress made (during Gallant’s meetings) was the ability to sit down with the people who do this work every day and go through every single case and where it is in the system.”
“Where there were some misunderstandings, those were clarified,” he added, noting the highly complex bureaucracy within the US weapons transfer system.
A US team went through each of the hundreds of planned weapons shipments with Israeli counterparts, explaining where each stood in the transfer process, the senior administration official said.
Further explaining the apparent slowdown, the second US official said Israel submitted fewer weapons and ammunition requests in recent months as the intensity of its fighting in Gaza waned.
The official said that during the early months of the war, the US had been able to expedite the transfer of weapons that had been further along in the approval process. In recent months, though, such shipments ran low.
Moreover, Axios reported that some officials in the administration interpreted Biden’s freeze of the shipment of 2,000-pound bombs as a signal that all arms shipments should be scrutinized more closely, slowing the process in comparison to the beginning of the war.
There is also concern in Washington about a potential Israeli preemptive offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon, which the administration fears could lead to a regional war, the second official said.
Nonetheless, the senior administration official briefing reporters stressed that the US has sent more than $6.5 billion in weapons to Israel since October 7, with nearly $3 billion alone in May.
National Unity leader Benny Gantz, who recently resigned from the now-defunct war cabinet, got behind Gallant’s handling of the crisis.
“Minister Gallant is right. Over the past few months, we have solved many of the problems with our friends behind closed doors, including on the matter of the munitions,” Gantz said in a statement, adding that he had taken the same course when he had been in Washington in March.
“The unnecessary friction the prime minister is creating for political reasons may give him a few points in his [political] base, but harms the strategic relationship with the US, which is an integral part of our ability to win the war.”
In roughly one month, Netanyahu is slated to travel to Washington to address a joint session of Congress. The premier has yet to receive an invitation to meet Biden at the White House while in town.
