Posted on 06/23/24
| News Source: Times of Israel
The Biden administration in recent months removed emergency procedures that were in place to fast-track weapons to Israel toward the beginning of the war, an American official familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel on Sunday.
The revelation helps explain the claim Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began making last week that the United States has been withholding weapons shipments to Israel. The US has denied the assertion, explaining that it has only withheld one shipment of heavy bombs it was concerned Israel would use in the densely populated southern Gaza city of Rafah.
All other shipments have continued at a normal pace, the White House explained.
The US official told The Times of Israel on condition of anonymity that a “normal pace” does not mean the fast-tracked rate that the US allowed during the early months of the war. In recent months, the US resumed its normal procedures for weapons transfers, including various Congressional authorizations.
The US official added that the move has coincided with a significant slowdown in the IDF’s operations in Gaza along with concern in Washington about a potential Israeli preemptive offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon that could lead to a regional war.
Channel 12 reported Sunday that during the first part of the war, some 240 weapons shipments were delivered to Israel. That number has dropped to roughly 120 shipments in recent months, the network said, without citing any sources or providing specific dates for the two timeframes.