Responding to Netanyahu, White House says it looks forward to meeting Gallant

Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief

Responding to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s latest claim that the US has been slowing weapons shipments to Israel, the White House says it looks forward to hosting Defense Minister Yoav Gallant later this week.

“We have made our position clear on this repeatedly, and we aren’t going to keep responding to the Prime Minister’s political statements. We look forward to constructive consultations with Defense Minister Gallant in Washington this week,” says a White House official who again rejects the premier’s claim.

The White House insists that it has only withheld one shipment of high-payload bombs it was worried Israel would use in the densely populated southern Gaza city of Rafah, while all other transfers have continued at regular pace.

Netanyahu has yet to specify which weapons shipments the US has allegedly withheld.

A source familiar with the matter says there has been no halt in shipments. However, emergency procedures that fast-tracked the transfer of weapons toward the beginning of the war are no longer in place, as the Biden administration remains concerned about Israel sparking a regional war.

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