White House threatens to cease arms to Israel except Gaza struggling resolved
The Biden administration is warning it’ll impose an arms embargo on Israel if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government doesn’t fix the Gaza Strip’s humanitarian crisis, according to Israeli media reports.
The White House laid out the demands in a letter to Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer, the Israeli news channel N12 reported Tuesday.
“Failure to implement these measures may lead to consequences for United States policy,” the letter stated.
The Biden administration expressed concern over the “deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Gaza in recent weeks” and insisted that “concrete steps” be taken within the next month to reverse the trend.
Cutting off Israel’s weapons would be a dramatic shift in U.S. policy. While the White House did temporarily pause the shipment of 500-pound bombs to Israel amid anxiety over the impact in Gaza, it has provided extensive military support to Jerusalem following the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre by Hamas terrorists.
The Pentagon this week announced the decision to send Israel a battery of the THAAD air defense system, used for intercepting ballistic missiles, to help defend against attacks from Iran.
French President Emmanuel Macron faced criticism, including from members of his own party, after recently recommending that countries stop supplying Israel with the weapons its troops are using inside Gaza. The statement brought a sharp public rebuttal from Mr. Netanyahu.
“As Israel fights the forces of barbarism led by Iran, all civilized countries should be standing firmly by Israel’s side. Yet President Macron and other Western leaders are now calling for arms embargoes against Israel. Shame on them,” Mr. Netanyahu said. “Is Iran imposing an arms embargo on Hezbollah, on the Houthis, on Hamas and on its other proxies? Of course not. This axis of terror stands together, but countries who supposedly oppose this terror axis call for an arms embargo on Israel.”
