Report: Netanyahu ignored warnings from ministers, advisers not to openly criticize US

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made the decision yesterday to publicly criticize US President Joe Biden’s administration even though ministers and advisers had recommended him against it, according to a report by Channel 13 news.

The report says a clandestine meeting held before the video statement — which accused Washington of withholding arms shipments to Israel, calling it “inconceivable” — included National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and other officials, all of whom unequivocally objected to Netanyahu’s intention.

Dermer asked the premier to wait with the public criticism until he and Hanegbi meet US officials at the White House tomorrow, the report says.

The network quotes an unnamed senior Israeli official as saying that “Netanyahu made the decision against the opinion of the advisers and ministers with whom he consulted.”

The official adds that the prime minister’s remarks caused “great outrage in the Biden administration.”